May 10, 2008
By Brenda Benedict
Lowe’s Motor Speedway was alive this week with the sound of the 750+ horsepower engines of NASCAR Cup Series cars. Under the beautiful Carolina blue sky, over 50 teams took an opportunity for this practice session.
The original 2008 NASCAR schedule did not include this practice session, but after lackluster performances at the intermediate-sized tracks like Las Vegas, Atlanta and Texas, it was decided to schedule these practice sessions on May 5 – 6 to give teams time to improve their performance before the two May races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
NASCAR sets the practice schedules on tracks where Sprint Cup races are held. They seek to keep equality between teams for the amount of time teams spend on these tracks. Teams that desire to practice more than NASCAR allows, they must go to non-Cup tracks such as Nashville Superspeedway or Kentucky Speedway.
The two day practice session, Monday and Tuesday, was divided into six sessions. Practice each day was held from 9 AM - 12 PM, 2 – 5 PM and 6 – 9 PM. The evening sessions were the most utilized because of the higher speeds possible on a cooler track and because the races at Lowe's in the next few weeks will be run at night.. Each team was allowed to run in four of the six sessions.
Practice consists of time on the track followed by sessions in the garage to review data, make adjustments and a return to the track.
Most drivers took to the track for 4 – 6 laps before returning to the garage. This meant they were spending five to seven minutes on the track. After an average of ten minutes in the garage, they would return to the track for another 4 – 6 laps.
Jeff Burton was the one driver who drove longer practice runs. On Monday, he averaged 8 – 10 lap sessions.
Scott Miller, Jeff Burton’s crew chief, talked about the benefits of the testing for his team. “Anytime you run the things you are going to learn little tidbits of information that potentially could help you. But it also is 'so track-condition related' that you might come back and think you hit on something here and then come back and it is totally opposite of what you thought. That’s the thing about these cars. It’s really hard to get a definitive answer and say ‘yes, this is way, way better.’ It’s all just little bitty crumbs just here and there and it’s really hard to call.”
Drivers found the sessions helpful and welcomed the chance to gain some experience with the downforce of the new cars being used this year. The added bonus of being close to home for most of the drivers was helpful on this busy week.
On Monday, Jeff Gordon participated only in morning session and left for commitments in New York. He returned for Tuesday’s sessions.
Jeff Gordon said, “You know obviously this is not a scheduled test and so it’s just great for us to get extra information and data. We’re learning about the grip of the tires and you’re looking for speed and you know sometime that takes more time when you only have a couple hours of practice when you get to the race track. Sometimes it’s tough to find that so you can take your time a little more and really try things and make changes.”
The highest lap speed was carded by Elliott Sadler with lap of 186.245 mph. He was followed by Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, A.J. Allmendinger and Scott Riggs. Although these are practice laps, drivers like to score fast times.
Lowe’s Motor Speedway was open for fans to attend the sessions without charge and several hundred people were there for each session. The fans saw speeds in the 180 mph area with an occasional spin out or encounter with the wall. All drivers were able to drive their cars away each time after meeting up with trouble.
Jimmie Johnson said that all the teams welcomed the extra practice. He stated, “It’s so tough to get on-track time right now and especially on tracks we compete on. You can go to Kentucky and you can go to Nashville and those other tracks but if you’re not on the real track, it’s tough to have anything carry over and really help the team. On top of that to get times and to have the right tire to test with has been a really big struggle. This test was welcomed by everyone and we’re glad to be out here. It helps us advance the car on these bigger tracks and also put on a better show for the 600 and the All-Star Weekend.”
Thanks, Jimmie. We are all looking for a more exciting race coming up with the Sprint All-Star Race on May 17 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25.
You can contact Brenda Benedict at .. Insider Racing News
You Can Read Other Articles By Brenda
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
