Crew chief Brian Wilson and the rest of the No. 21 DEX Imaging team are hoping two days of hard work last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway will lead to a strong run in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at the 1.5-mile track in south Florida.
Driver Harrison Burton and the DEX team already have capitalized on the lessons learned at the Homestead test as they competed on similar tracks in recent weeks.
Wilson said he expects the data gathered in the test will come into play in a bigger way this weekend.
“At the Homestead test a month ago, the No. 21 team was able to work through two days of a test plan which resulted in competitive speed and valuable data,” he said. “As we go back it also gives us a deeper notebook than we have at most tracks this year.”
Wilson said he, Burton and the team were able to work on several aspects during the test.
“Most of the first test day was spent on aero runs,” he said. “This data has been used over the past few weeks to improve on the already fast body of our Ford Mustang.
“The second day we focused on mechanical set-up items. We were able to find a set-up that Harrison was happy with which also produced very competitive lap times.”
Wilson said he expects to continue to make use of the information gathered last month.
“I believe that it was this test that helped us take the lead at Texas and qualify in the top ten at Las Vegas,” he said. “We’ll try to continue our progress this weekend as we return to Homestead.”
Cup Series practice at Homestead is set for Saturday at 10:05 a.m. and will be followed by qualifying at 10:50.
Sunday’s 267-lap, 400-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m. with TV coverage on NBC.
Stage breaks are planned for Laps 80 and 165.
WBR PR
