Post by dalejrfan on Mar 17, 2008 0:24:36 GMT -5
Biffle adds to tire talk, says test at Darlington too fast
Notes: Bristol intro; Shrub on his fans; DJ on Wood Bros
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- High speeds, including 200 mph recorded at the end of Darlington Raceway's backstretch, was only one thing that caught two-time Darlington winner Greg Biffle's attention during a Goodyear tire test this week.
Biffle, speaking at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday afternoon, said he was happy that Goodyear had decided to come back for a second try at the test, using the same three teams: Biffle's and those of Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman.
Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales and marketing, said it was an easy choice for the manufacturer to decide to go back in about two weeks for another brief retest.
"We're not quite there yet," Stucker said. "We're going to go back, and we feel like we can make it a little bit better."
Biffle and Gordon appreciated that decision, they said.
"I think we all knew it, but it's extremely fast -- too fast for that size of racetrack," Biffle said. "We went 200 mph into Turn 3 at Darlington, and I could go faster than that probably. It's just extremely, extremely fast because of our cars today and how much grip that we've been able to get out of our cars and tires and how much power we make now. But that's two-and-a-half seconds faster than we were going. It's just astronomically fast.
"Jeff Gordon and I couldn't really drive the car -- it was just not enough grip, so we came back in and they found a middle ground that we think is gonna be decent. Goodyear is going back to the drawing board. We had a left-side tire that was maybe a little too fast still, and then they had a tire that was too hard. So they're gonna split that middle ground and we're gonna go back just to double-check it.
"That was kind of all of our suggestions to do that and I think they were really receptive to that. Let's face it, they don't want us complaining about the tire being too hard, yet it can't come apart."
Gordon was one who said he was glad he was testing NASCAR's new chassis versus last year's car.
"If we had last year's car, we would be doing 210 mph at Darlington under these new conditions and Goodyear would be really challenged on the tire," Gordon said. "This particular [new] car, it is doing its job and we are going slower through the corners than we were before."
Gordon particularly praised Goodyear for having three teams at Darlington for its latest test, as he said he typically concentrates on getting Goodyear "consistency, give them a really good feel and give them good feedback. But I am not going to put the car out on the edge."
Gordon said Biffle did just that and the problems Goodyear saw with its tire were the result.
"Heck, this week at Darlington, had Biffle not been there, I don't know if we would have realized some of the issues we had on the repave at Darlington that we needed to come back for a second test," Gordon said. "I felt like Ryan [Newman] was right in the middle between Biffle and me. I thought it was crucial to have us three guys and those types of teams and drivers there. I thought it was awesome."
R. Gordon debunks team's sale
One of the hot rumors last week was the sale of Robby Gordon Motorsports to Alex Gillett, son of Gillett Evernham Motorsports primary owner George Gillett Jr. On Friday at Bristol, the owner/driver Gordon said it was business as usual for him.
I haven't sold my race team," Gordon said. "People talk and there are a lot of interesting things going on, but right now, it's business as usual. I bet last year, 20 people came to me asking me if I was interested in selling my team, so it is what it is."
Carpentier feeling the challenge
Even before his No. 10 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge was eliminated from Sunday's lineup by qualifying's rainout, Patrick Carpentier was sensing how tough it was going to be to make the lineup at Bristol. Carpentier was 44th of 46 cars in the single, rain-shortened practice.
"I knew it was challenging," said Carpentier, who has now missed three of five races, but only one of which he had a chance to qualify for. "I know how Juan Pablo [Montoya] is and what he's done when he was [in open-wheel racing] and I've seen him qualify 38th, 39th in a lot of races maybe he wouldn't have made, too. But that's the way it is.
"To me it's one of the toughest forms of racing that I've ever entered. People have no idea -- me neither. Watching TV, you look at it and watching it for us, 'cause we're so fast with the open-wheel and you watch 'em and you're like, 'Man, that thing is really slow.'
"But once you sit in that [stock car] and strap in, it's not that slow, believe me. It's fun, though. I really like it and I really hope that I stick here for quite a few years -- because I feel [at] home and I love it."
Hornish, Franchitti meet Bristol
Another couple former open-wheel racers, three-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. and last year's titlist, Dario Franchitti, also experienced their first Bristol laps Friday afternoon and had an experience, to say the least. Hornish spun twice, but hit nothing, while Franchitti was last on the time sheet.
"We definitely had an experience [but] it's neat to get out here for the first time," Hornish said. "Everybody has told me there's nowhere you can go to practice and prepare for Bristol and there really isn't [so] it was neat to get some running time in there.
"It's pretty easy to get in trouble here. It wasn't too impressive looking so far but we got some good runs in after that and feel a lot better about that right now."
"Our first thing that we've got to do is get the car so it's handling right," Franchitti said. "Right now we've got a big problem with the car snapping loose on entry through mid-corner, so we've got to get that fixed and then they can start working on what I have to do a bit more. It's an exciting place, put it that way."
With the lineup based on 2007 owner points for the final time this season, Hornish lines up seventh on Sunday while Franchitti starts 26th, and says so far Bristol is incomparable.
"I think Bristol stands alone," Franchitti said. "Nowhere is like Bristol. The closest thing that I've ever come to it was when I was racing an Indy car at Richmond or Iowa. The thing is, here you've got the sensation of speed but you don't have the grip, so it makes it pretty interesting."
Stewart content with car after laps
Tony Stewart ran 40 laps in the abbreviated Friday afternoon practice, which put him in the upper 25 percent of cars that ran a lot of laps -- though he trailed high man Kasey Kahne, who ran 57. But he was pleased with his car's demeanor, which was a pleasure after his tire rants of a weekend ago.
"Practice wasn't bad," Stewart said. "I didn't hear anybody talking about 'tight' so that was kind of good. Normally that's what we all complain about here -- our cars being tight in the center [so] it sounds like everybody has a handle on that.
"We were just a little bit loose. That's the side of the coin that I would rather be on this week is to be a little bit loose than tight."
Kyle Busch on Bristol Fans
Kyle Busch's win in the inaugural race last spring for NASCAR's new chassis raised an outcry amongst Bristol's packed, gargantuan stadium. It's all good for NASCAR's highest-rising young star.
"The reception here has always been pretty bad for me," Busch said on Friday. "Probably because of another sibling of mine [five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch] -- where he had some issues before coming into this race and then spun a guy out and went on to win. Then the fans were all tweaked.
"I don't know if those are the same fans that come here every year or what, but it seems that way. For me, I don't really care whether they cheer or boo, as long as they are making noise. If I'm getting a lot of noise, then I'm happy."
DJ on Woods' travails
If anyone is in a position to comment on the qualifying struggles being experienced this season by Wood Brothers Racing, it's former Cup champion Dale Jarrett, who started last season outside the top 35 in owner points, quickly used up his allotment of champion's provisional starting positions and then failed to make a number of races for the rest of the year.
Jarrett, whose first Cup victory occurred in the Woods' famed No. 21, at Michigan International Speedway in 1991, will make the final start of his career in a point race in Sunday's Food City 500. He commented on the Woods' failure to make a race for the fourth time this season in five tries, when the lineup was set per the rainout procedure, sending their car home.
"None of us can feel the hurt that they're feeling," Jarrett said. "Those of us that have been fortunate to be close to that family have a lot of hurt right now that Leonard and Len [Wood] are going through the struggles they are right now.
"That's what makes this sport so difficult, seeing things like that happen. All of us here know how good of people they are, and how hard they've worked for the 60 years of NASCAR. I know why it's difficult to put any system in place that's good for everybody, but you'd like to think that a family that has given everything like they have could be put in a little better position than this.
"This sport needs people like that involved in it. How we keep them in that position, I don't know. Hopefully, something can be done that can help them continue to operate."
Notes: Bristol intro; Shrub on his fans; DJ on Wood Bros
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- High speeds, including 200 mph recorded at the end of Darlington Raceway's backstretch, was only one thing that caught two-time Darlington winner Greg Biffle's attention during a Goodyear tire test this week.
Biffle, speaking at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday afternoon, said he was happy that Goodyear had decided to come back for a second try at the test, using the same three teams: Biffle's and those of Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman.
Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales and marketing, said it was an easy choice for the manufacturer to decide to go back in about two weeks for another brief retest.
"We're not quite there yet," Stucker said. "We're going to go back, and we feel like we can make it a little bit better."
Biffle and Gordon appreciated that decision, they said.
"I think we all knew it, but it's extremely fast -- too fast for that size of racetrack," Biffle said. "We went 200 mph into Turn 3 at Darlington, and I could go faster than that probably. It's just extremely, extremely fast because of our cars today and how much grip that we've been able to get out of our cars and tires and how much power we make now. But that's two-and-a-half seconds faster than we were going. It's just astronomically fast.
"Jeff Gordon and I couldn't really drive the car -- it was just not enough grip, so we came back in and they found a middle ground that we think is gonna be decent. Goodyear is going back to the drawing board. We had a left-side tire that was maybe a little too fast still, and then they had a tire that was too hard. So they're gonna split that middle ground and we're gonna go back just to double-check it.
"That was kind of all of our suggestions to do that and I think they were really receptive to that. Let's face it, they don't want us complaining about the tire being too hard, yet it can't come apart."
Gordon was one who said he was glad he was testing NASCAR's new chassis versus last year's car.
"If we had last year's car, we would be doing 210 mph at Darlington under these new conditions and Goodyear would be really challenged on the tire," Gordon said. "This particular [new] car, it is doing its job and we are going slower through the corners than we were before."
Gordon particularly praised Goodyear for having three teams at Darlington for its latest test, as he said he typically concentrates on getting Goodyear "consistency, give them a really good feel and give them good feedback. But I am not going to put the car out on the edge."
Gordon said Biffle did just that and the problems Goodyear saw with its tire were the result.
"Heck, this week at Darlington, had Biffle not been there, I don't know if we would have realized some of the issues we had on the repave at Darlington that we needed to come back for a second test," Gordon said. "I felt like Ryan [Newman] was right in the middle between Biffle and me. I thought it was crucial to have us three guys and those types of teams and drivers there. I thought it was awesome."
R. Gordon debunks team's sale
One of the hot rumors last week was the sale of Robby Gordon Motorsports to Alex Gillett, son of Gillett Evernham Motorsports primary owner George Gillett Jr. On Friday at Bristol, the owner/driver Gordon said it was business as usual for him.
I haven't sold my race team," Gordon said. "People talk and there are a lot of interesting things going on, but right now, it's business as usual. I bet last year, 20 people came to me asking me if I was interested in selling my team, so it is what it is."
Carpentier feeling the challenge
Even before his No. 10 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge was eliminated from Sunday's lineup by qualifying's rainout, Patrick Carpentier was sensing how tough it was going to be to make the lineup at Bristol. Carpentier was 44th of 46 cars in the single, rain-shortened practice.
"I knew it was challenging," said Carpentier, who has now missed three of five races, but only one of which he had a chance to qualify for. "I know how Juan Pablo [Montoya] is and what he's done when he was [in open-wheel racing] and I've seen him qualify 38th, 39th in a lot of races maybe he wouldn't have made, too. But that's the way it is.
"To me it's one of the toughest forms of racing that I've ever entered. People have no idea -- me neither. Watching TV, you look at it and watching it for us, 'cause we're so fast with the open-wheel and you watch 'em and you're like, 'Man, that thing is really slow.'
"But once you sit in that [stock car] and strap in, it's not that slow, believe me. It's fun, though. I really like it and I really hope that I stick here for quite a few years -- because I feel [at] home and I love it."
Hornish, Franchitti meet Bristol
Another couple former open-wheel racers, three-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. and last year's titlist, Dario Franchitti, also experienced their first Bristol laps Friday afternoon and had an experience, to say the least. Hornish spun twice, but hit nothing, while Franchitti was last on the time sheet.
"We definitely had an experience [but] it's neat to get out here for the first time," Hornish said. "Everybody has told me there's nowhere you can go to practice and prepare for Bristol and there really isn't [so] it was neat to get some running time in there.
"It's pretty easy to get in trouble here. It wasn't too impressive looking so far but we got some good runs in after that and feel a lot better about that right now."
"Our first thing that we've got to do is get the car so it's handling right," Franchitti said. "Right now we've got a big problem with the car snapping loose on entry through mid-corner, so we've got to get that fixed and then they can start working on what I have to do a bit more. It's an exciting place, put it that way."
With the lineup based on 2007 owner points for the final time this season, Hornish lines up seventh on Sunday while Franchitti starts 26th, and says so far Bristol is incomparable.
"I think Bristol stands alone," Franchitti said. "Nowhere is like Bristol. The closest thing that I've ever come to it was when I was racing an Indy car at Richmond or Iowa. The thing is, here you've got the sensation of speed but you don't have the grip, so it makes it pretty interesting."
Stewart content with car after laps
Tony Stewart ran 40 laps in the abbreviated Friday afternoon practice, which put him in the upper 25 percent of cars that ran a lot of laps -- though he trailed high man Kasey Kahne, who ran 57. But he was pleased with his car's demeanor, which was a pleasure after his tire rants of a weekend ago.
"Practice wasn't bad," Stewart said. "I didn't hear anybody talking about 'tight' so that was kind of good. Normally that's what we all complain about here -- our cars being tight in the center [so] it sounds like everybody has a handle on that.
"We were just a little bit loose. That's the side of the coin that I would rather be on this week is to be a little bit loose than tight."
Kyle Busch on Bristol Fans
Kyle Busch's win in the inaugural race last spring for NASCAR's new chassis raised an outcry amongst Bristol's packed, gargantuan stadium. It's all good for NASCAR's highest-rising young star.
"The reception here has always been pretty bad for me," Busch said on Friday. "Probably because of another sibling of mine [five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch] -- where he had some issues before coming into this race and then spun a guy out and went on to win. Then the fans were all tweaked.
"I don't know if those are the same fans that come here every year or what, but it seems that way. For me, I don't really care whether they cheer or boo, as long as they are making noise. If I'm getting a lot of noise, then I'm happy."
DJ on Woods' travails
If anyone is in a position to comment on the qualifying struggles being experienced this season by Wood Brothers Racing, it's former Cup champion Dale Jarrett, who started last season outside the top 35 in owner points, quickly used up his allotment of champion's provisional starting positions and then failed to make a number of races for the rest of the year.
Jarrett, whose first Cup victory occurred in the Woods' famed No. 21, at Michigan International Speedway in 1991, will make the final start of his career in a point race in Sunday's Food City 500. He commented on the Woods' failure to make a race for the fourth time this season in five tries, when the lineup was set per the rainout procedure, sending their car home.
"None of us can feel the hurt that they're feeling," Jarrett said. "Those of us that have been fortunate to be close to that family have a lot of hurt right now that Leonard and Len [Wood] are going through the struggles they are right now.
"That's what makes this sport so difficult, seeing things like that happen. All of us here know how good of people they are, and how hard they've worked for the 60 years of NASCAR. I know why it's difficult to put any system in place that's good for everybody, but you'd like to think that a family that has given everything like they have could be put in a little better position than this.
"This sport needs people like that involved in it. How we keep them in that position, I don't know. Hopefully, something can be done that can help them continue to operate."