CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR Cup Series drivers seemed happy to get an hour of practice Saturday morning, but they still don't know how the aerodynamic package with restrictor plates will work for the NASCAR All-Star Race.
After rain washed out virtually all practice scheduled for Friday, NASCAR held a rare race-day morning practice in preparation for the non-points event Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR is testing an aerodynamic package for the 1.5-mile track that uses restrictor plates to suck horsepower from the cars, a bigger rear spoiler and aero ducts in the front of the car that channel air through the front wheel wells. The idea is to make the cars draft and slinghshot pass, similar to races at Daytona and Talladega.
"It is going to get crazy," said 2016 all-star race winner Joey Logano. "We are going to crash some stuff tonight. I think that is pretty apparent. In practice, we were all pretty good at giving each other some room and making sure ... at least we have a car for later on."
In practice, there were times where drivers were three-wide. Logano said he is unsure if that was the package or drivers with tires that were different in their wear cycle.
A driver on new tires in fresh air likely won't have to lift off the throttle, Logano said, but he found himself lifting for about a second when in traffic or after a few laps on the tires.
"They drive pretty good when you are by yourself, kind of like Daytona or Talladega, but in dirty air with that big spoiler, it gets out of control behind each other," Logano said. "You will see cars with big moments off [Turns] 2 and 4.
"Usually two-thirds of the way through the corner, the car will start to take off and get in the wake of other cars."
The speeds are about 16 mph slower than they were last year -- Kyle Larson, fastest in practice last year at 189 mph, posted the fast speed at 173 mph Saturday morning.
Aric Almirola, on the pole for the last-chance "open" qualifying race tonight, said he thinks a driver will need to be in the top-three spots late in the race. He is unsure the number of cars a driver would need behind him to get a good run and slingshot by another car by using the aerodynamic draft.
"It looked like two or three cars could get lined up and get a run on the leader, but ... once they got side-by-side, it didn't look like one lane was more advantageous than the other," Almirola said. "I don't think that hour of practice was telling enough to answer that question."
Matt Kenseth is on the pole for the main event, a race divided into segments of 30 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and 10 laps. The final segment must be 10 green-flag laps.