Changes in the new car may happen, but when?

A few weeks ago, NASCAR officials held a meeting with the drivers and "asked" that they refrain from dissing the new Sprint Cup car in front of the press. It was widely known as the "shut up and drive" meeting. As we saw from Sunday's race, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, "shut up and drive" didn't seem to help the car at all, and may have hurt NASCAR's image some.

Now it isn't the drivers that are complaining about the car, having dutifully conformed to the sanctioning body's wishes, but it is the fans and the sports journalists who see the car as a disaster.

The 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard woke somebody up, it seems. According to reports on ESPN's NASCAR Now, both Mike Helton and Competition Director Robin Pemberton seemed to indicate Tuesday that they would consider a wider tire for the Sprint Cup Car. The wider tire would require a change in the body style of the new car, something NASCAR has previously said wouldn't happen.

Wider wheels on the car would help, as it would give the tires a bigger footprint on the track, which would mean more traction with a harder compound, and it would reduce the "billowing" effect on the sidewalls.

A New York Times article seems to confirm that NASCAR officials are considering changes:

“The fans didn’t get what they exactly wanted, and we’ll do everything in our power and it won’t happen again, I can tell you that much,” Pemberton said in a conference call. “So we’re going to put a lot of effort towards it and get a better plan moving forward.” (read entire article)

On this blog, we have suggested before that NASCAR should allow the teams a little more leeway in adjustments, and in finding ways to make the car work better with the tires they are given. More testing is needed, and Pemberton has indicated that there would be more testing in the future. However, NASCAR has also said that they will not add any additional open testing to the schedule this year.

So, it seems, things will get better, and nothing like what happened at IMS Sunday will happen again. We will just have to wait until the off season to get a view of what changes will be made for next year.

Not quite live on type delay: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard

This is a different kind of "live on type delay," because the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was a kind of race we have never seen before. Although it wasn't the greatest event for the fans to watch--for that matter it could be compared to the 2005 Formula 1 USGP in terms of disappointment--it was a race, and there was racing happening.

We can thank NASCAR and the teams for the fact that it wasn't the disaster the 2005 USGP was. The teams that were using Michelin tires for the Formula 1 event had serious safety issues with the tires at Indianapolis that year. They eventually refused to participate in the race, leaving only the teams that were using Bridgestones--a total of six cars in all--to compete in the event. That was a disaster.

The 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was also affected by tire issues. Montoya lost a tire on lap nine and spun out. After the caution on lap fourteen--involving Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch--the teams found out what kind of tire wear they were getting. The answer was complete tire wear, for there was very little rubber left on the tires used by all the teams during the first stint.

Excessive tire wear was expected during the first part of the race, until the surface was tempered by ground-in rubber during the course of the race. Except some of this surface tempering should have occurred during the practice sessions. It didn't happen. So problematic was the tire wear issue during the four practice sessions that NASCAR allowed the teams extra tire sets for practice.

So what was happening to the rubber that was supposed to be grinding into the track surface? It was turning into a fine powder, or dust that accumulated on the outer side of the track, and on the cars themselves. During the final practice session, Greg Biffle even experienced a fire in his car caused by the tire dust igniting.

So, by the time the second caution of the race occurred, just before a scheduled competition caution around lap 28, it was seen that tire wear would be a significant problem for the entire race. It did not seem that the surface was ever going to pick up the rubber it needed to create a better surface. NASCAR decided to run the remainder of the race in approximately ten lap stints. The race was restarted on lap 34, and the next scheduled caution was to be on lap 44. On lap 43, Matt Kenseth's car lost the right rear tire, which literally exploded, destroying the body work on the right rear of the car.

So the remainder of the race was run with a competition caution every ten laps, taking away any chance for pit strategy for fuel mileage, but allowing some teams to make the choice of two or four tire stops for position. Still, there was a race to be had, and it became obvious that the team that would win would be the team that had the best car to begin with, along with the best pit stops and whatever tire strategy there still was to be found.

In this type of race, there really wasn't much happening that could be described in play by play, which is why this "live on type delay" is more of an opinion and commentary piece rather than a description of the action.

Denny Hamlin took the lead during the second to last stint, which restarted with 19 laps to go. With fourteen laps to go, NASCAR closed the pit road, so no one could try to take an early pit to try to gain a position advantage by staying out for the final competition caution. It was the pole sitter, Jimmie Johnson who took the lead after that final pit stop. When we saw his pit crew congratulating each other after that stop, we almost knew what the outcome of the race would be at that point.

There was no question of overtaking, because the outside line that the drivers usually like at the Brickyard was coated with that fine tire dust, and there was no traction there at all.

As it was, it was a real race, considering that the best driver for the day, with the best car and the best pit crew for the day won. That's the bottom line. We have to agree with Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Kasey Kahne in saying that NASCAR did what they had to do to keep the race safe and to run the race in its entirety, because, as Dale Jr. said, "The only alternative would have been to pack up and go home."

Waiting until after NASCAR Now before posting this turned out to be a personal good thing, because we were treated to an excellent explanation for the excessive right side tire wear by Ray Evernham. It seems that the old car was built with the majority of the weight of the car on the left side, allowing the weight to transfer to the right side in the turns, and from the right side as the car straightened out, thus relieving the pressure on the outside tires. With the new car, the weight is evenly distributed to all four tires, so additional pressure is put on the right sides in the turns. However, nobody could explain why the track never "rubbered in."

There is no reason to explain what could have been done, because it wasn't, so what if has no effect on the outcome of the race. However, it would have been wise to allow all the teams open test sessions at IMS prior to the race weekend, so, perhaps something may have been changed for the race. There is no point in dwelling on that however. What's done is done, what isn't done isn't done and is therefore irrelevant.

Notables of the race, besides Jimmie Johnson's win:
AJ Allmendinger finished tenth, and even led some laps, his best finish and best run of his NASCAR career. His teammate, Brian Vickers, did not fair so well. Vickers is pretty much the NASCAR bloggers' consensus pick of the drivers currently not in the Chase for the Championship to make the Chase. His problem, a blown engine, was the only problem during the entire race not related to tire issues.
Tony Stewart, who was expected to do well at Indianapolis, fought loose all day long. In other words, he had a twenty-fifth place car and was lucky to bring it home in twenty-fourth place.

As for the other good cars, Jeff Gordon managed to pull off a fifth place finish, while Denny Hamlin finished third. Dale Jr and Kyle Busch were forced to drive conservatively due to trying to make the tires last ten laps, which is uncharacteristic for either one of them.

Final thoughts:

The question that was asked back in 2005, after the USGP disaster was "what would NASCAR have done?" We got our answer.

At least there was a race, because it could have been worse, as in no race at all. From a fan's point of view it wasn't much of a race. There really wasn't much to get excited about, as there really wasn't much to watch. The race at Indianapolis made the race earlier this year at Texas seem exciting. The problem, however probably won't happen again, as NASCAR has promised much more open testing as of next year, something they announced long before the Indianapolis weekend. We have to take the bad with the good, and, hopefully, we won't see something this bad for the rest of the season. One caution to NASCAR, however--they might do well to allow open testing later this year at Homestead. That could save some embarrassment for the last race of the season.

Nothing boring about this weekend at Indy

Until 2006, this was always an exciting weekend for me because it meant it was time for the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series race at PPIR. That excitement stays with me to this day, as a matter of habit, for there is no more race at PPIR*.

There is, however, still reason to get excited, because it is now Indianapolis weekend. With the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, and the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series races at O'Reilly Raceway Park, there is plenty of exciting racing in store.

O'RP is a 0.687 mile oval that is home to some of the most exciting short track racing we have seen in the Nationwide and Truck series. It seems to breed a lot of cautions, because the drivers feel like they have to go for broke here, maybe because it's near Indianapolis, or because it is just that kind of track. That kind of track is the classic Saturday night circle burner, where it's every man, or woman, for him or herself. With a tight championsip points competition between the CTS drivers, we can expect Friday night's race to feature plenty of action and drama.

Last year's Busch (Nationwide) Series race was an absolute wreckfest, to the point of frustration for both the fans and the drivers. If we want to see a demolition derby, as that "race" was, we would go to a demolition derby. But many of the drivers in the race last year had little experience at O'RP. Most of those drivers are back this year, and, hopefully, they remember from last year what not to do. If you want parity, there will be parity here, because on a short track like this, horsepower doesn't matter.

Every driver has had a period in their career racing at tracks similar to O'RP, but there are some who are masters at such racing. Joey Logano comes to mind, as do Denny Hamilton, Jason Keller, and Clint Bowyer. Kyle Busch will also be on hand, which will likely mean plenty of action and drama for Saturday's Nationwide Series race as well. July isn't over yet, and there should be plenty of fireworks on the track.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is arguably the most well-known American racing venue in the world. The 2.5 mile rectangular speedway provides a special challenge for the Sprint Cup cars. Only for teams tested at IMS earlier this year, other than that the new car has not seen the track.

Even in the older car, the track was a challenge for stock cars. Nearly twice as heavy as the open wheel cars, and not nearly as responsive in handling, NASCAR's machines do not seem fit for the for separate ninety degree turns on the track. To this day, drivers and crew chiefs alike wonder how it is even possible for the heavy cars to make the turns. And that is the challenge of the track. If a driver and car negotiate the corners as near perfectly as possible, they can hit the long straightaways at speed. A missed set up, a bad pit stop, or taking the wrong line through a turn can spell the end of the day for a team, or, at least, a very long day.

That is why there is so much preparation for this one race. Most of the teams build a special car for the Brickyard. This has never been a race known for a lot of passing and position changes--old car or new car, it is very difficult for the stock cars to pass one another. This is a race about pit stops and adjustments, as well as perfection of the driver in hitting his marks. That by no means indicates a boring race. The competition is stepped up for the Brickyard, because of the sheer prestige of winning at IMS. The broadcast crew at Speed TV brought up an interesting statistic indicating what it takes in talent to win a race at IMS--every winner, with the exception of Kevin Harvick in 2003 and Ricky Rudd in 1997, has been a NASCAR Cup series champion. That says a lot.

Tony Stewart is by no means a "lame duck." In spite of what we have written here previously--for which we apologize, because that was a purely emotional reaction--the #20 team has had a winning attitude all season long. The races at Daytona, Las Vegas, Bristol, Lowe's, Loudon, and Talledega were all wins for Tony Stewart had it not been for misfortune. We also apologize for forgetting about Jimmie Johnson's 2006 Brickyard win, but if Smoke can pull off a victory it will be three out of the last four, not three in a row as previously written here. This blogger has never claimed to be perfect, but mistakes make us seem human. We only regret that we are so darn human.

The competition at an especially high level here this year, because some of the drivers who have performed the best at IMS have yet to win a race in 2008. Jeff Gordon's team has been improving all year, and he is every bit as poised to win at the Brickyard as are Stewart and Ryan Newman. Newman, who did win the first points race of the season at the Daytona, is an Indiana native who has yet to win at the famed speedway.

However, and please don't shoot the messenger, since this is the first race at IMS for the Sprint Cup car, don't rule out a win by Kyle Busch. He seems to be the one driver who can consistantly take the car to its first win at any venue. It would not be surprising if he were to win Sunday. We hope the fans can remember that it is very wrong to throw beer at the Hallowed Grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

*As I was getting ready to post this, I received news that PPIR will be reopening, and will be running a National Automobile Sports Association (NASA) event on Labor Day weekend. ISC decided to relax the requirement that the buyer not use the facility to host automobile racing, and reworded that stipulation to mean no NASCAR events. However that doesn't mean we won't see ARCA/Remax back here in the future. Why ISC is so certain that they will be able to build a track near Denver, and why I think they are wrong is subject for a whole new post, but for right now, I am doing a happy dance at the news that PPIR will have racing again.