Quote:
Originally Posted by chefsos
I'm watching the replay of today's practice, and it looks like they have some Bristol-type tire trouble again.
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One thought after watching the race today, Martinsville is the new Bristol. Great racing -- Very exciting.
Dustin Long from the Virginian Pilot had this to say:
Is Sunday’s race set to be an awful affair because of tire issues or might it actually be one of the better races in some time because the track might narrow to one groove and that could lead to a lot of bumping and banging.
Anyway, the talk all weekend has been about tires. Before I get to what is being said, a quick explanation of what’s going on:
# Goodyear brought a new left-side tire and a new right side tire to Martinsville. The left side features a “tougher compound’’ according to Goodyear and the right side features a “softer compound for more grip.’’
# Friday, the track did not rubber up – in other words rubber was not adhering to the track. More rubber on the track equals more grip for drivers. Less rubber and guys are sliding all around. It was causing more tire wear than teams see here. As one crew chief told me, it changed who was good, noting the guys who often are good at Martinsville were loose while those that had struggled in the past were fast.
# Another issue is that the bits of tires that come off and lay on the track (marbles) are covering up the second groove after a while. That narrows the racing groove to one lane. Get those marbles on your tires and it takes a lap or so to get them off and by that time a driver has fallen back. (this is something that has happened in the past and the key is for NASCAR to send out jet dryers to blow those off the high groove during caution periods).
# After the truck race Saturday, the track was still not rubbering up as driver say.
On to what drivers are saying about this issue:
KEVIN HARVICK
(he finished 4th in the truck race)
“The tires are just such pieces of crap,’’ Harvick said after finishing fourth in the truck race. “There’s still no rubber on the race track. It’s put all the teams in a box that isn’t really necessary. I don’t know why we take good tires that we’ve raced here … and change them.’’
Asked what he would tell NASCAR, Harvick said: “You can’t tell them anything. They’re on their own agenda, it seems like.’’
KYLE BUSCH
(he finished 2nd in the truck race)
“There’s no rubber on the race track,’’ Busch said. “I don’t see it getting better (today). Anything could surprise, but I doubt it.’’
TRAVIS KVAPIL
(he finished 20th in the truck race)
“It’s going to be a problem (Sunday) for sure. It’s going to be a fight for the bottom (groove). If you do get slid up there (to high groove) you’re just going to have to hang on and hope for a hole.’’
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES DIRECTOR JOHN DARBY
I talked with he and Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition, and both were comfortable with the tires for Sunday’s race.
Said Darby: “Is it a different tire? Yeah. Let’s race it first and see what happens.’’
DALE EARNHARDT JR.
“It is pretty disappointing. Just hopefully we can figure out what is wrong; why the tires aren’t as good as they should be and get it fixed.
“After 12 laps, everybody was kind of falling off pretty fast. There was no rubber built up and there was a lot of marbles. You couldn’t get out of the bottom groove. You had to run right next to the curb. If you got in the marbles, it would ruin you. Once you got in the marbles, you ruined that set. I mean, there is no way to get them off. We don’t go fast enough here to really grind them off. It was messy. It was just real messy all day.”
JEFF GORDON
“We had our debrief with all of our drivers and crew chiefs and engineers (Friday) and it was kind of comical leaving there,’’ Jeff Gordon said, noting the various opinions expressed.
“All the drivers are talking about, “Man, the cars are so loose, the cars are so loose; can’t get them tight enough, can’t get them tight enough.’ We’re wearing the rear tires out. So all the drivers are wanting the crew chiefs to put soft rear springs in and just do everything to maximize the grip.
“And the crew chiefs are sitting there going, “Yeah, I’ve heard this before,’ and then they drop the green flag and the track lays some rubber and then all of a sudden we’re screaming tight, and can’t get it free enough. And so, it puts them in a very tricky position.’’
DENNY HAMLIN
“We’ve had to change our setups quite a bit (because of the track not taking on rubber). We’ve always had kind of a base that we kind of play around with all of the time. One of the concerning things for us is our setup is way out of the box from that this weekend, so we’re going to see whether it’s better or worse.’’
KURT BUSCH
"It’s going to be a great show on Sunday because these tires are wearing out so fast, nobody has any idea what to expect for the race. It’s going to be a lot of slip-sliding around. There’s going to be a bunch of ping pong balls bouncing around out there.
“The track is not taking the rubber in, something different than what we’ve seen here in the past. Maybe they missed it a little on the chemical in the tires as far as laying down the rubber. What’s happening is the tires are shredding so fast, they aren’t developing heat and we’re chafing the rubber right off the tires.”
RYAN NEWMAN
“From what I was told, they made a minor tweak to the tire and came here and I guess didn’t know the answer of what it was going to do. They speculated. It could change all over again tomorrow. That is the biggest question we all have in our head. What is the track going to do when we have 43 cars out there with the exhausts being down on the race track? Is it going to lay rubber or not?
“If it does, it is going to change a lot of things. I think it will take two different setups to be able to be successful in either of those situations. Whether it rubbers up or whether it doesn’t and it continues to eat tires up throughout a run. The way it looks on paper, there is no way we could do even close to a fuel run tomorrow. But I think the track will change, I just don’t know how much and when that will happen.
http://hamptonroads.com/blogs/dustin-long