First, congratulations go to Kevin Harvick for stepping up and winning the All-Star Challenge in much the same way Jimmie Johnson won at Las Vegas earlier this year. You may remember the frustration some drivers showed regarding Las Vegas' new surface and Goodyear bringing a harder tire than the one previously tested. Johnson appeared to make everyone's distaste for the circumstances his advantage by spending the day focusing on what he could get out of the strange combination as apposed to what he could not.
Harvick seemed to take this same approach Saturday evening. For most of the night, it appeared there were more drivers finding ways to lose the All-Star Challenge rather than win it. The race had only three leaders, none of whom were able to separate themselves from the rest of the field. In fact, they looked their best out in front, and this may have given the impression of strength, but when they were in traffic, they looked closer to being on par with the others drivers. But Harvick raced his way through traffic, took the lead and did not relinquish it, even to late, strong runs by Johnson and Mark Martin.
In my opinion, the drivers did not have a great product to work with Saturday night. I could sense apprehension in interviews between segments, which translates to this: Drivers like to be in control and dislike the inability to describe their needs to their crew. There is a fine line between a car being too tight to go fast and way too loose to drive. The common denominator in this scenario is a tire too hard for the track and the conditions, which is what the drivers dealt with at Lowe's.
The tire used Saturday allowed no margin for error in which to operate, a problem Jeff Gordon referenced during the race and confirmed on the following restart. A tire considered too hard actually works opposite of a more comfortable and secure, softer tire.
A tire has a driver's endorsement when it is new and affords the driver predictability. It will respond well to chassis adjustments, giving drivers and crew chiefs immediate satisfaction in making the car better. Most importantly, the tire allows the driver to be more aggressive and gives him a wider platform on which to operate. Simply put, it is more forgiving. It will, however, fade quickly if abused, bringing tire preservation into the equation.
The harder compound tire, like the one used Saturday night at Charlotte, is at its worst when cold and functions more like a worn-out tire in the early laps of a run, improving as it builds heat. A perfect example of this was Kyle Busch, who elected not to pit following the first segment of the Challenge and ended up driving away from the field in the second segment.
The fact that the tire compound was too hard for the track surface was evident during most restarts, where the driver on the inside groove had difficulty asking the tire to do two things: accelerate and turn at the same time. The cars restarting in the outside groove had an easier time because they were not creating as much resistance to the rear wheels due to not having to turn the wheels as hard to the left. The inside became a favorable spot again later as the cars got back up to speed and built tire heat.
The closing laps of the race produced the night's best racing as both Johnson and Mark Martin were in pursuit of Harvick and the $1 million prize. Their attempts at passing the leader appeared to fall victim to the dreaded aero-push, however, which was unavoidable with the tire compound. Because of the lack of flexibility from the tire, the cars were too dependant on the downforce created by the high speeds, making them stall whenever they got close to a car in front of them.
The only solution to create a more competitive race at Lowe's Motor Speedway would be to bring a better tire to match the track and its surface. The slower Car of Tomorrow obviously is not an option for this weekend's Coca-Cola 600, but it might help bring better racing to 1½-mile tracks in the future. The car appears to be less dependent on air moving over the top of fenders and hood to be efficient. It also handles poorly, creating slower corner speeds and putting the focus back on driver ability to move around the track to find speed.
My years in Nextel Cup have convinced me that the best racing and finishes are a result of giving drivers control and predictability early while in packs, and allowing that control (or tire grip) to diminish during a fuel run as the cars spread out. Saturday night's race seemed to be a reversal of this.
Most teams and drivers enjoy the all-star weekend and the excitement it creates. It is an acknowledged accomplishment to compete in the night's final race. But we also consider the weekend to be a tune-up for one of the year's biggest events the following week, the Coca-Cola 600. Everyone leaves Charlotte following the All-Star Challenge and the Open expecting to improve when they return in a few days. Perhaps the same will be the case for the quality of racing this time around.
Regardless of the circumstances, taking Kevin Harvick's approach to the weekend could help.
Ricky Craven is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR analyst.
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WEEKEND NASCAR RACE REPORT – 5-28-07
Event: NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 (Race No. 12 of 36)
Location: Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile quad-oval track in Concord, N.C., near Charlotte
Weather: Clear and warm
Winner: Casey Mears, driver of the #25 Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports
Top-five finishers: Mears, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson and Brian Vickers
Race recap: Casey Mears ran the final 59 laps, stretching his fuel the whole way, to win the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday night. While most of the leaders peeled off the track to get a splash of fuel to make it to the finish, Mears stayed out and made the strategy work in the longest race of the season.
For Mears, it was the first victory of his 156-race Nextel Cup career. And while this race was a breakthrough for Mears, it was more of the same for his Hendrick Motorsports team. Between Mears and teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch, the Hendrick organization has won five Nextel Cup races in a row and nine of 12 events this season.
Mears led just once and it was the important final nine laps. In all, there were 29 lead changes among 15 drivers. Kurt Busch led the most laps with 107 out of 400. The race was slowed by 13 caution flags for a total of 52 laps.
Championship leader Gordon got swept up in an early-race accident and finished 41st. He now leads Johnson by 132 points in the standings.
"Tire performance (in the Nextel Cup race on Sunday night) was exactly what we expected from a wear and temperature perspective. In fact, Kurt Busch ran the first 140 laps of the race on a single set of tires. There were an unusually high number of cut tires from debris during the Cup race -- we counted seven. In addition, several tires were damaged by contact, and we had one melted bead as a result of excessive brake heat on Greg Biffle’s car."
The Nextel Cup Series is right back in action at Dover International Speedway next Sunday.
Companion event: Kasey Kahne and his team adjusted on his car the whole night, enabling him to lead the final 42 laps en route to victory in the NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday night. Casey Mears got his weekend off to a good start by finishing second. Carl Edwards, who ended in 17th place, leads the overall standings by 423 points over Kevin Harvick.
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Left Front -- 30 psi; Left Rear -- 30 psi;
Right Front -- 50 psi; Right Rear -- 47 psi
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 23 psi; Left Rear -- 21 psi;
Right Front -- 49 psi; Right Rear -- 45 psi
Estimated Pit Window:
Every 78-82 laps, based on fuel mileage (Nextel Cup).
Notes:
Teams in all three NASCAR series will run the same tire codes this weekend, though the Nextel Cup and Busch Series tires will be branded "Goodyear Eagle," while the Craftsman Truck tires will be branded "Goodyear Wrangler" . . . teams in all three of these series ran this specific combination of left- and right-side tires at a triple-header weekend at California Speedway earlier this season . . . truck series teams also ran this combination at Kansas in late-April . . . . this left-side code (D-4078) is new to the Goodyear tire lineup for 2007 . . . this right-side code (D-4062) was run at Dover, Kansas and Michigan in 2006 . . . as on all NASCAR ovals one mile or greater in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Dover . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.
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Tough tires
Goodyear, NASCAR Lowe's Race Weekend In Review
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