By Mike Mulhern
JOURNAL REPORTER
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla: NASCAR's John Darby wants to start taking downforce off the cars, and he hints that Darlington's 400-miler in March might be just the place to cut a half-inch off six-inch-plus spoilers. "If we do that to the rear of the cars, the teams will take care of the front themselves," Darby said.
A softer tire would be well received in many quarters. "I don't think there's any question the tire is too hard," Burton said. "It's made it where the aero in the car is more important a lot of times than the driver. In some cases, the car is 60 percent or more. I don't think it used to be that way.
"I think you used to be able to make up more with a car (as a driver) than you can now. I think the tires are what's done it.
"I don't really know about the downforce; I'm not an engineer. But we've got a lot of downforce now that we didn't have three or four years ago.
"We all know the tires have gotten harder and harder and harder, particularly the last few years. It's made it so that people who have no experience can come into this sport and get with the right team and right car and win races. You never saw that before in the history of NASCAR. And those tires are what's done it....
"What has happened is you just can't make up as much as you used to. You can't thread the needle as much as you used to. When you go in (the corner) a little bit harder than you should, the car won't let you get away with it. You're not used to it being that temperamental or that sensitive.
"The cars are more sensitive today than they've ever been, and it's not the aero that's doing it. It's the grip we've got on the racetrack. We can see it through performance.... "I'm not bashing Goodyear tires. They're great. We very rarely blow tires. But it's just made the cars so temperamental."
• Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com