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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
March 5,2004
Vol. III,No.VIXII FINAL EDITION
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Quote of the day: "In racing, good luck simply means not having bad luck."- John Payne, Engine Tuner for Penske Racing South 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Return of "T-Rex"? What’s my line? All bets are gone for Gaughan Burton tries to shrug off bad luck NASCAR working on 2005 Riggs fastest at Atlanta again Nextel Cup may see fields smaller than 43 cars this year Test drive: Alli Owens is trying to live out her NASCAR Spencer speaks out, again Kahne eyes bright future Zoom Lens: NASCAR Everything I Need to Know About NASCAR I Learned From Judge Judy (and other media ramblings) Cup Scene readers speak out about the new point system
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Happy Birthday: Sutherlin Marlin This weekend will offer the first real test of whether a shortened rear spoiler and softer tires will result in more passing on intermediate tracks like the 1 1/2-mile oval Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"The performance of the tires has always fallen off at Vegas, but the new tire is falling off a little bit more," said 2002 series champion Tony Stewart. He was among more than 50 Nextel Cup and Busch Series drivers who tested here in January to try to get comfortable with the changes. "It's what a lot of us drivers have wanted for a long time, because the fuel mileage and track position games we saw played last year have been taken out of the equation," Stewart added. That's exactly what NASCAR had in mind in the offseason when it cut three-quarters of an inch from the rear spoilers to reduce downforce, making the cars harder to drive in the corners. At the same time, NASCAR asked Goodyear to provide softer tires. "We're trying to get our arms around the downforce and aerodynamics of the race cars and ultimately bring those numbers down," Nextel Cup director John Darby said. "We're going in the right direction, if the test out here is any indication." The season-opening Daytona 500 was a restrictor-plate race, where the rear spoiler height was actually increased a half-inch from last year to curb speeds at one of NASCAR's fastest tracks. The tire Goodyear brought to Daytona was a little harder. And, two weeks ago on the 1.017-mile oval at Rockingham, the tire was virtually the same as what was used in November. The abrasive track at The Rock has always been hard on tires, anyway. But the changes are expected to be most noticeable at tracks such as Las Vegas, the site of Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400: 1 1/2- or 2-mile ovals that make up more than a third of the 36-race Cup schedule. Tony Stewart thinks the latest changes should make a difference.
"When it was like that a few years ago, you saw a lot more passing, and the racing just seemed to be better all around," he said. "By taking some downforce away from us and giving us some softer tires, it's given us a combination that's allowed us to race." "Guys who get in too big of a hurry and go out and abuse their tires early in a run will get passed by guys at the end of a run because they're more patient." Stewart, though, says that next week's Nextel Cup stop in Atlanta might be more telling about NASCAR's new low-downforce, soft-tire package: "I'm not sure that Vegas will be the first true test, because tire performance has always fallen off at Vegas. But the race will certainly have a different set of circumstances from last year with the reduced-spoiler height. We'll still be able to learn from it. But it's still too early to know. All we have with this package are two days of testing, and we were running by ourselves during that test. There's still a lot to be learned. "I think Atlanta will be the first true test of how this new package works for us, especially in traffic." Actually Texas Motor Speedway on April 7 could be a much better test, because teams will have had time to assess the Las Vegas and Atlanta races and redesign their cars. Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief, said: "They took a lot of downforce away from us, so we're working hard to try and get as much of that downforce back as possible. That's why we're off to a little slower start than we'd like to be building cars - we're not building a lot of them until we find what we think is the best solution. There's still more information we need from Las Vegas and Atlanta to build a better car." TMS was where Stewart and Zipadelli introduced a controversial car last year that met NASCAR's rules but not NASCAR's concept of how the rules should have been interpreted. So NASCAR confiscated Stewart's car and never returned it. In the last few seasons, harder tires and big spoilers made the cars "aero dependent," a term describing handling in traffic that made passing difficult. That promoted strategies such as taking two tires or no tires on pit stops to gain track position, or simply trying to make gas last longer. Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who has won at Las Vegas, also likes the changes. "The new tires will benefit the teams with good communication." Gordon said. "I believe we're one of those teams. "The track grooves are beginning to open up here, so we should be able to run low or up a couple of grooves once the tires begin to fall off. The key will be communicating exactly what the car is doing to your crew."
In six career starts at Las Vegas, Gordon has one win (2001), two top-fives, two top-10's and has led 87 laps. "We've had some good runs here, but we've struggled some, also," Gordon said. "Last year, we led some laps with a good car, but I was caught up in an accident. "We're using the same car this year. It's also the car that took us to Victory Lane in 2001." Jimmie Johnson, one of Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammates, said the is no stranger to Las Vegas and the western desert, from his off-road racing days. So it's not the environment or the track that worries him, but rather the new tire. "The cars have a lot of movement and are inconsistent in the feeling they have," Johnson said. "The tires seem to be consistent from set to set, but there is a huge amount of drop-off (in speed and grip) in the tire, and that was by design. "I think they've reached that goal in having a lot of fall-off in the tires so that you don't have strategy issues. But it drives a lot different, and the setups are going to be a little different. "You also have the new spoiler rule, so you have less downforce in the car. By that alone, the car has less grip. And with the tire being as good as it is at the beginning of a run and then dropping off at the end of the run, your grip level changes even more. "So the limit of traction is considerably less from what we're used to. It's very easy to overdrive the car. "It's going to make the race in Las Vegas a lot different from what we've seen in the past." Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, said he has two additional worries - Dodge and Ford. Three weeks ago the line was "Advantage Ford," with its new nose and tail and new cylinder head, and with the Jack Roush-Robert Yates engine room merger. Now Dodge teams could be the ones to watch too. "We feel the Dodges have a bit of an advantage on us right now in horsepower and aerodynamics," Knaus said. "We feel like the Fords have really stepped it up with the Roush-Yates collaboration on the engine side. We think they've got a good horsepower increase (as Matt Kenseth showed in dominating at Rockingham). The new nose they've got on the Ford Taurus is a pretty big advantage. "We're definitely behind the eight ball. I don't go to the race track unless I feel like I can win. But the cards are going to have to fall just right for us to be able to get up there." Johnson's crash at Rockingham ended a phenomenal streak. He and Knaus had been among the top 10 finishers for 70 straight races, one of the longest such streaks of the past 30 years. Ryan Newman will be one of today's favorites for the pole (3 p.m. EST), and Bobby Labonte's record of 173.016 mph (31.211 seconds) could fall. The third-year driver has won one of two poles so far this season and now has 19 in just 83 races. "The team keeps giving me good cars and I just drive them as hard as I can," Newman said. He started second in Las Vegas in 2002 and third last year. The other story going into qualifying Today will be to see if NASCAR's newest and youngest phenom can make the field. If he does, Kyle Busch will put a sibling rivalry on center stage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After spending 2002 in the American Speed Association, he joined Hendrick Motorsports last season and won the ARCA race at Nashville Superspeedway in his first race with the team. He finished second in his Busch Series debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May - a few weeks after his 18th birthday. He is running the full Busch schedule with Hendrick this year but also will attempt six Cup races. Despite all the hoopla, his goals for Cup are modest: Qualify for every race, complete every lap - and pull alongside big brother at least once. "Hopefully, we can run up near the front where he's going to be and get some pictures out of the deal," he said.
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NASCAR This Weekend
What: UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 (400 miles or 267 laps)
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Date Opened: June 25, 1996 First NWCS Race: Las Vegas 400, March 1, 1998 Qualifying Record: Bobby Labonte, 173.016 mph (31.211 sec.), 2/28/00 Race Record: Mark Martin, 146.554, 3/1/98 TRACK CONFIGURATION Distance: 1.5 Mile Oval Banking in Turns 1-4: 12º Banking on Frontstretch: 9º Banking on Backstretch: 3º Length of Frontstretch: 2,275 ft. Length of Backstretch: 1,572 ft. Grandstand Seating: 126,000 Miles/Laps: 400 mi. = 267 laps |
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