BRISTOL, Tenn. -- The Chevrolets finally got some help from NASCAR for their aerodynamic complaints when the sanctioning body announced a change in the inspection process that effectively adds 1¼-inch to the front of the Monte Carlos.

Beginning with the April 5 race at Texas Motor Speedway, the reference lines on the floor of NASCAR's inspection bay that are used to determine the length of the cars will be moved from 99 inches to 100¼-inches.

Dodges and Fords are already measured at 100¼ inches, while Pontiac is at 100½ inches.

Chevrolet teams have complained about a lack of downforce on the nose of their cars all season. Downforce gives cars the ability to stick to the track and gain stability at speed and General Motors claims the Chevy lags behind the Dodge by 10 percent there.

"We think this brings the front end of the Monte Carlo in line with the other makes," Winston Cup director John Darby said Friday. "This should give them some more front downforce and balance the cars out a little bit."

NASCAR did not give the Pontiac, GM's other model, any help but Darby said the sanctioning body would continue to monitor the plight of the Grand Prix.

"Part of balancing it out is picking a target, maybe something in the middle, and working everything toward that," Darby said. "So we helped the Chevrolets and we'll continue to watch (the Pontiacs) over the next few weeks."

Downforce is not an issue at Bristol Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Food City 500, because the track is just .533-miles. But it will be a factor at Texas, a 1.5-mile track.

Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon said he anticipated the front-end help would make the Monte Carlo's, which have yet to win a race this season, competitive at Texas.

"We're going to have a good amount of downforce from this," Gordon said. "Ultimately, is this what we need for the long-term? I don't know. But short term, it's going to help."

To the truck
Jimmy Spencer's work day got off to a late start because NASCAR would not allow his team to unload its truck until Spencer reported to the NASCAR hauler for a belated talk with officials.

Spencer was called to the truck following the past two races but never showed up, so NASCAR forced the issue Friday morning. Spencer had a brief meeting with NASCAR president Mike Helton in which his role in last week's accident at Darlington was discussed.

Spencer was involved in an 11-car wreck, coming quickly through the smoke of an accident ahead of him and slamming into Tony Stewart's stopped car. Stewart spent the night in the hospital after the accident with back pains.

"They wanted to talk to him about some stuff, about what he saw in the wreck and was there any way they could have prevented such a big pile-up," said Tony Glover, team manager for Chip Ganassi Racing. "I guess they're getting different answers from different drivers.

"I don't think they were trying to punish him for being in the wreck. I think they just wanted his idea on what happened in the wreck."

Darby said NASCAR was speaking to other drivers about the accident as well and claimed Spencer's team couldn't unload the truck during the meeting because the keys were in Spencer's pocket.

Get out the back-up
Rookie Jimmie Johnson hit the first speed bump of his season, crashing on just the second lap of morning practice.

Johnson, fifth in the Winston Cup standings, had to go to a backup car for the rest of the weekend.

"The car just got really, really loose," Johnson said. "I just couldn't hold it."

Johnson, who won the pole for the Daytona 500 and finished 15th there, has three straight top-10 finishes, including a career-high third-place run two weeks ago at Atlanta.

After his crash, car owner and teammate Jeff Gordon spoke to him about the grooves at Bristol.

"He got sideways pretty good," Gordon said. "There's a bump in Turn 2 that we all know about, but I guess he didn't. Unfortunately he found it on Friday qualifying day and tore up a car."

Hooters is back
Brett Bodine has finally secured long-term sponsorship, signing on with the Hooters Restaurants chain for the remainder of the season.

Hooters has been on the car on a race-to-race basis the past two weeks.

"This sponsorship will put stability back into our race team so we can focus on making our team more competitive," Bodine said.

The sponsorship agreement will give Hooters primary sponsorship of a Winston Cup series car for the first time since 1996. The company won the 1992 Winston Cup championship as sponsor the late Alan Kulwicki's car.