Chip Ganassi Racing’s four-time champion says the domed skids have a very noticeable effect on handling at superspeedways but it’s far more exaggerated at Texas Motor Speedway than Indy. The 9mm domed skid plates, in use here at IMS and to be fitted at TMS and Pocono Raceway, bulge downward to create a low-pressure area when the car reaches a high-yaw angle (as if about to spin). This dramatically slows down the rotation of the car once it gets into a spin. However, this bulge has necessitated a raise in ride height and, according to the drivers – particularly Honda-powered – this raise in ride making the car more unstable and therefore less able to run in dirty air. Yet the...
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