SPARTA, Ky. -- Kentucky Speedway has changed, and we probably wont know whether its for the better until a full weekend of racing has been completed.Thanks to a repave and a mild reprofiling of Turns 1 and 2, almost everything that competitors have learned since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series started running there in 2011 has been thrown out. For all practical purposes, Kentucky is a brand-new racetrack, to the joy of some and the disappointment of others.Its a totally different race track, for sure, 2013 Kentucky winner Matt Kenseth?said. Id say its basically like starting over.Almost since it opened in 2000, Kentucky was notorious for its bumpy surface. While that created difficulty in setting up cars to handle, it also provided much of the tracks character. The 1.5-mile oval some 35 miles south of Cincinnati was also famous for its weepers and was known as one of the most difficult tracks to dry and make race-ready after periods of rain.Coarser asphalt and a revised aggregate base, along with south-end banking increased from 14 to 17 degrees, are expected to provide relief from the drainage problems. The other major change to the track is a wider pit lane exit and resultant narrower entry to Turn 1, where the width has been reduced from 72 to 56 feet.About a dozen teams tested the new surface for Goodyear on June 13 and 14, prompting the tire maker to change to a slightly harder right-side compound for the Cup Series to address concerns about the potential for excessive wear.We spent two days testing here and obviously Goodyear needed to make some adjustments to the tires coming back to make them live, said?Kevin Harvick, who claimed pole position based on owner points after qualifying for the Quaker State 400 was rained out Friday.As weve gone through practice, we havent had any tire issues so far. But it changed things a lot with the feel in the car and the things you want in the car. So weve scrambled a little bit, and hopefully getting a little more practice will be beneficial because we still arent exactly where we need to be in terms of balance and whats going to happen the longer you run the car.Harvick admitted that he and crew chief Rodney Childers took a conservative approach for practice. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne both contacted the wall, and?Kyle Busch had to summon all of his skill to catch a huge tank-slapper.Youre definitely cautious just because you dont know where the limits are, and every time you go out you push or see something you havent done before, Harvick said. You start to gather a notebook in your mind about how far you can push things, how far you can hang the car out or how loose or tight the balance needs to be.The hard thing about repaves at some places is you can be overaggressive and slide up out of the groove, but here, you wind up knocking the side off the car into the fence.The rain that arrived just 20 minutes into Fridays Cup practice made things more difficult for competitors in several ways. After any track is repaved, teams need as much track time as possible to dial in their cars to adapt to the changes. In addition, having more rubber laid down on the track tends to widen the groove for the race, creating opportunities for passing.The decision to jettison qualifying in favor of additional practice time was welcomed by the drivers. Just a few days ago, NASCAR altered its rule for a qualifying rainout to set the grid by owner points, rather than practice speeds as it had been done in the past.That put Harvicks Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet on pole, with Brad Keselowskis Team Penske Ford alongside on the front row.With the major changes to the Kentucky track, Keselowski welcomed the extra practice time.The approach is to take all the Kentucky notes and run them through the shredder and start from scratch, he said, adding that he and crew chief Paul Wolfe based their car setup on what worked earlier this summer at Michigan International Speedway. Whats worked here in the past isnt even close to whats going to work here this weekend. That was pretty obvious before we got on the track and confirmed when we did.The cars are challenging to drive like we thought they would be and like we hoped they would be, Keselowski continued. Midcorner speed is way down and straightaway speed is way up, so thats a bit of a handful, but the good kind of handful that really challenges drivers and really forces drivers to really push it to the limit.Keselowski believes that the reduction in midcorner speed brought on by the low downforce package in the Cup Series has the added benefit of reducing the potential for tire issues. But he was concerned about the Xfinity Series race scheduled for Friday night.Its interesting going back and forth between the Xfinity car and the Cup car because the midcorner speed in the Xfinity car is almost 10 mph higher than the Cup car, and the Xfinity cars are just killing the tires.While the focus in the past at Kentucky was getting a car to handle over the bumps, the new challenge is to manage tire wear. With a conservative, ultrahard right-side tire and a high-grip new track surface, expect plenty of two-tire and even no-tire stops Saturday night as teams try to gain track position through pit strategy.The Friday rain didnt help things in that respect.It definitely will make the groove narrower, which is a shame, Keselowski said. The tire on the car this weekend really isnt laying down the rubber that would make the groove wider and wider.It is what it is. We all deal with the same thing and well get through it.One thing the drivers wont have to endure this year is the physical pounding they used to take at the roughest oval on the NASCAR tour. Some of them say theyll miss the bumps and the character they contributed to Kentucky, but Harvick isnt one of them.It feels great, to tell you the truth, Harvick said. My neck doesnt hurt; it doesnt pound your heels and your neck to the point where you cant hardly walk for two days. 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Australia are planning to take advantage of a depleted England forward pack as they look to end Eddie Jones unbeaten record at Twickenham on Saturday.Jones is aiming to become the first coach to lead England to 14 successive wins in a 12-month period, but hell be unable to call on the services of the outstanding Brisbane-born No.8 Billy Vunipola whos sidelined with a knee injury.Vunipola, who moved to the UK as a child when his father, former Tonga captain Fe`ao Vunipola, signed for Welsh club Pontypool, has been an integral part of Englands renaissance in 2016.The damaging ball carrier is a huge loss for the hosts, who are already without locks Joe Launchbury (suspended) and the injured Maro Itoje, and giant Wallabies second-rower Rob Simmons hopes their absence can be fully exploited.I definitely hope so, Simmons said.Were preparing the best we can and whatever happens on the weekend will be what it is.I really enjoy watching Billy play. I think hes quite a talented number eight so itll be a big loss for their team and they play a lot of their footy off the back of his big carry so whoever fills his shoes will be up for a big task.Coach Michael Cheika ordered the 70-times capped Simmons to add some extra physicality to his game and the Queensland Red belieeves hes made huge improvements during this tour and embracing the new responsibility of calling the line-out.ddddddddddddIt has been good, I think this tour in particular Ive come a long way, he said.Im working on those things at training and trying to impress and make myself a better player as well as moving forward in the line-out and scrum.Its been enjoyable personally to be doing a couple of things a bit better, I was a fair way off at the start I suppose.England have been confidently talking up their physically gifted pack since their success in Australia earlier this year.However, without Vunipola and Itoje - two stand outs in the 3-0 series win to contend with - Simmons believes theyre more than capable of matching the hosts.Its been a focus of the forwards not just this whole tour, but the whole year, he said.Something weve been trying to raise the bar in is the physicality, especially for the tight five.Its an area we (the tight five) need to own and the team runs off the back of that.If we can set up a platform, especially for the ball players off nice front-foot ball, it makes it a lot easier for the rest of the team. 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