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NASCAR Notebook
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Published: July 26, 2008
Tires appear to be OK, drivers report
■ At Indianapolis, tire wear is typically a question. But so far, no one seems unduly concerned.
"Right-side tires are wearing more than the lefts, but we'll have to see if that changes or not," Ryan Newman said. "We couldn't get many laps out of our first set.
"But what we're experiencing here is the same thing we've experienced here the last few years.
"Look at the rubber on the ground here -- it's powdery. I'm not blaming anyone; it's just the nature of the track that it grates the tires."
Mark Martin: "We ‘corded' the rights in eight laps the first run, and didn't ‘cord' the lefts, so I'm assuming we'll be watching the right sides…. And that first set last year ‘corded' in six laps, so I'm not concerned."
Goodyear's Greg Stucker: "Everything is fine. We're seeing wear, just like we always do in the early stages of practice. We're a little harder than last year, so this is a little better. The wear is as expected, which is why the guys all get a couple extra sets of tires to get some rubber down.
"I think everybody is happy with the way the cars are driving. We've got a new left-side construction, which helps the handling. So overall everyone is pretty happy."
■ Kyle Busch, the hottest driver in NASCAR, said he's fired up for tonight's Nationwide race across town at O'Reilly Raceway Park, in the wake of NASCAR's rules change penalizing Toyota teams with a horsepower-cutting carburetor-plate change.
"I think that was a bad decision on NASCAR's part," said Busch, a five-time Nationwide winner. "I think it was just a lot of whiney complainers that got their way. And hopefully we can go out there and whip them again.
"When you look at the dyno numbers, we were three ahead of Ford and I think three or four ahead of the Dodge, and then the Chevrolet motors were way down.
"I don't think anybody is working on the Chevrolet SB2 (the Nationwide tour engine) because they are trying to get the RO7 (Chevrolet's newer Cup-tour motor) approved (for Nationwide racing).
"But if they get the RO7 approved, then the bore and stroke on that is the same as the Toyota engines, so they get the restrictor plate that we got."
■ Rookie Patrick Carpentier, who has had a ragged first year on the stock-car tour, said he should know by mid-August what car owner has planned for him for 2009.
"And it all depends on sponsors, you know," said the popular Carpentier. "I expect to be back next year, yes…. but I'm sure Dario Franchitti expected to run the full season too."
Car owner Chip Ganassi pulled the plug on Franchitti's team a month ago, in a shocker that left 71 people without jobs.
That move by Ganassi has led to intense speculation about Ganassi's NASCAR future.
Some of that speculation includes the possibility of some merger between Ganassi and the Michael Waltrip operation, which is also struggling and may be down to one sponsor next season for that three-car operation.
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