KANSAS CITY, Kan. — As popular as NASCAR’s decision to change its aerodynamic package for the 2016 Sprint Cup season seems to be with drivers, it is worth taking a closer look at how it might truly change the circuit.

“It’s pretty complicated — who knows what everyone’s goals are, right?” Carl Edwards said Friday. “Sometimes it feels like the goal of the sport is to make it so everyone is more equal or to where it’s easier to drive. That appears on the surface to be good. But it’s important to remember that race cars should be hard to drive. There’s supposed to be a lot of talent involved with engineering and I think NASCAR is recognizing that,” he said.

NASCAR tested the low downforce package — which includes a 3.5-inch spoiler, .25-inch front leading splitter edge and a 33-inch radiator pan — earlier this season at Kentucky and Darlington.

Drivers loved the setup then; the Kentucky race produced a track-record 22 green-flag passes. So they expect to love it in 2016, when it will be used at all tracks except Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR’s two superspeedways.

“It just has less downforce so it has less grip,” explained Matt Kenseth of the effects of the low-downforce package. “The corner speeds are slower, your acceleration is a little bit more. Since they took away the horsepower, it gives you some of that acceleration back because you have less aerodynamic drag. There’s less grip, less ill aero effects behind other cars back in traffic. I think it can give definitely more opportunities to pass if you catch a car, especially if some of these tracks are aero sensitive to what we currently have.”

There will be some variables involved with the new aero package, however. Different tracks will have different tire packages and gear ratios.

“There are going to be some challenges,” said Martin Truex Jr. “Goodyear has probably got the biggest challenge. At certain tracks it’s going to be really tough to develop a tire that does what we want it to do. But it’s going to put it more in the drivers’ hands, where cars drive better in traffic and worse by themselves. That’s really what we’re all looking for.”

Like Edwards and Truex, Dale Earnhardt Jr. preaches patience.

“I wouldn’t be looking for some dramatic change, but I think the drivers are happy about it,” Earnhardt said. “It’s going to be a process so I wish people would try to be patient. We have to allow Goodyear to tune a tire for this package and that is not going to happen on the first attempt at all these races. They can’t have an issue where we are having tire problems and the tires aren’t lasting. They have to creep in on this deal and kind of bring the softer tire little steps at a time. It’s going to take some time to sort of get there.”

In Saturday’s racing:

Kyle Busch wins Xfinity race at Kansas Speedway: KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Busch raced to his fifth Xfinity Series victory of the year and record-extending 75th overall, outdueling Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth at Kansas Speedway.

Worsham tops Funny Car qualifying in Texas: ENNIS, Texas — Funny Car points leader Del Worsham kept the top qualifying position in the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. Worsham took the No. 1 spot with his track-record 3.917-second pass at 323.58 mph Friday night in his Toyota. He won the first two events in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.