|
Los Angeles, CA. -- The July 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup 15th annual Brickyard 400, officially called the Allstate 400, made news for the wrong reasons this year. The reported crowd was an impressive 200,000 as usual. However, race-long tire problems turned the race into a series of "heat races" in which drivers drove at about 80% to avoid blowing a tire and slamming into the crash-wall. Accidents and the threat of more tire-related crashes made Allstate Insurance an appropriate race sponsor. Pace car driver Brett Bodine led 60 of the 160 laps. USA TODAY used the words fiasco, embarrassing, debacle, absurd, and ridiculous in headlines to describe the NASCAR 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Cup drivers also chimed in with their own summaries of the Brickyard 400. Matt Kenseth's point position in the top 12 was jeopardized by his RR tire explosion that tore off the back quarter panel of his No. 17 Ford. Kenseth called the race "embarrassing". He apologized to race fans. Ryan Newman stated, "That wasn't a race. It's ridiculous." Jamie McMurray said, "You can't put us (drivers) in this situation. Throw the yellow before someone gets hurt." Dale Earnhardt, Jr said, "It was an easy day, with short runs all day." Other sources used the words awful, disgraceful, pathetic, pitiful, wretched, and the Blowout 400
Indianapolis Star daily newspaper sports columnist Bob Kravitz wrote some clever, original thoughts about the 2008 Brickyard 400. They included the following: "the Competition Yellow 400...Tire de Farce... a joke... black eye..;. the lamest spectacle in racing (as opposed to the Indy 500 claim as the greatest spectacle in racing)... an embarrassment for NASCAR and Goodyear... unfair to the fans who paid good money to attend...it was unsafe for drivers screaming around the track on rubberized tire bombs... 10 to 12 lap heat races as in real sprint car racing... the longest green flag stretch was 13 laps...It was not as bad as the Formula One US Grand Prix at Indy in 2005... Michelin tire-shod cars pulled in after leaving the starting grid and drivers quit the race over safety issues with the Michelin tires at the USGP... The race boycott left only six cars to "race" that day. NASCAR officials and Cup drivers made the best of a bad situation not of their making. Winner Jimmie Johnson apologized for the race conditions with tire cord showing after so few laps. Appropriately, he blew out his rear tires on the front straight doing his victory burnouts. He was unable to drive around the track to turns 4, 3, 2 and 1 to salute the fans in those grandstands."
The post-Brickyard 400 show NASCAR Victory Lane with host John Roberts, plus past NASCAR Cup drivers Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace, interviewed winner Johnson live near victory lane. Spencer was his usual NASCAR "house-man or shill" and called the 2008 Brickyard 400 "a great race"--NOT. As usual the loud one used his completely overused word "awesome" liberally throughout the one-hour TV show. Spencer is the guy who lives to praise established stars and to verbally criticize or pick on newcomers. He did that to J. J. Yeley and David Gilliland several years ago and most recently to road racing "wringer" P. J. Jones after the recent Watkins Glen Cup race. In fact, for many weeks Spencer called Gilliland "Gilligan" as in the old TV show Gilligan's Island. What a joke (not funny) annoying Spencer is as a television racing analyst. He has a propensity to call NASCAR newcomers "kid" no matter what their age is. At least Kenny Wallace is enthusiastic, funny and tries to be balanced. Kenny asks some good questions and offers useful insight.
USA TODAY conducted a poll to learn from its readers who was to blame for the excessive tire wear problem at the Brickyard 400. The choices and results of balloting were: Goodyear 29%, NASCAR 13%, Both Goodyear and NASCAR 53%, Neither Goodyear nor NASCAR 5%. Total votes were 11,141 several days after the race. FAULT??? So whose fault was the Brickyard 400 tire fiasco? There is enough blame to go around. NASCAR and Goodyear are prime suspects. NASCAR did not mandate an open tire test at IMS which has been hard on tires in the past. The new NASCAR Car of Tomorrow (or Car of Today for all 2008 Sprint Cup races) is taller and has a different center of gravity that reportedly put more weight on the right side tires. The RF tires have been a trouble spot in the past, but RR tires showed cord and blew out during the 2008 Brickyard 400. The IMS diamond-ground track surface "took rubber" during past NASCAR races at IMS and was expected to do so this year. Pre-race practice showed that was not happening with the new CoT Cup car in use for the first time at Indy. The track did not take rubber throughout the Brickyard 400 this year. If NASCAR had run its IMS tire testing for all Cup teams as in past seasons that critical flaw most likely would have been uncovered.
Goodyear ran a three car tire test session at IMS during April with Earnhardt, Jr. (Chevy), Brian Vickers (Toyota) and Kurt Busch (Ford) testing tires for the Brickyard 400. They reportedly were unable to get more than 15 laps on a set of tires, so that was the first clue that tires were a problem at Indy with the new CoT. Instead of going back to the drawing board, Goodyear engineers expected the IMS track surface to take rubber as usual when all 43 cars were competing on the IMS track. Also, April temperatures were not as critical as the late July hotter ambient temperature (mid-80-s) and the hotter track temperature (120+ degrees). The tire problem became evident during Saturday, July 26 practice sessions but it was too late then to solve the problem. Expecting tire problems during the 400, Goodyear brought 800 sets of tires that were to be used the following week at the Pocono 500. They were not needed. One good thing for everyone involved was that no one got hurt, despite crashes by Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip and Paul Menard plus the tire explosion by Kenseth. The race had 11 cautions for 52 laps (32.5%). There were 26 lead changes among 16 drivers, including first-time Cup race leaders A. J. Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Regan Smith. Open-wheel veteran Allmendinger started 26th in the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry, led laps 68-71, ran in the top ten most of the race and finished a career-best tenth. It took 3:28.29 to complete the race and the average speed was 115.117 mph. One had to feel sorry for the overworked pit crews/tire carriers/changers for their frequent tire changing about every ten laps. They really earned their money at the Brickyard 400. The race had a record 36 cars finish on the lead lap thanks to all the yellow flags. Only two cars dropped out with engine problems. Five damaged cars, including Kenseth's, returned to the track down 12 or more laps. At least the CoT is tough.
It appears that NASCAR officials did what they had to do for safety by calling six mandatory competition yellows to change all sets of tires. That showed that tire wear was a race-long problem. To his credit, NASCAR President Mike Helton went on camera during the ESPN race telecast and explained the tire wear situation and how NASCAR was handling it for safety reasons. Robin Pemberton, NASCAR VP of Competition, was shown on TV consulting with various teams crew chiefs on pit row and personally inspecting worn tires just taken off cars in the 400. IMS President Tony George has said the IMS is not at fault. The track was fine in prior Brickyard 400 races for Cup cars. He said Goodyear and NASCAR must solve the tire wear problem. What seems to be necessary according to some experts is for NASCAR to adjust the CoT, perhaps by raising the front splitter to reduce down-force. Goodyear might use wider tires for more contact with the track surface. That would mean wider fenders and an adjustment to all CoT fender width specs. Whatever is necessary will be done most likely and the don't tamper with the CoT order from NASCAR might be changed with the approval of NASCAR.
The best racing of the day at the Brickyard 400 was the race off pit row on lap 151 with nine laps remaining. Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards beat lap 150 leader Denny Hamlin off pit row. Johnson and Edwards then provided the best one-two racing on-track for the final seven green flag laps to the checkered flag. They knew their tires were safe for that short distance. Johnson's second Brickyard 400 victory provided his No. 48 team $509,236 to $366,700 for Edwards' No. 99 team. Patrick Carpentier, a 2005 Indianapolis 500 veteran, was the highest finishing Brickyard 400 race rookie. California veteran, good guy Gilliland, 32, started and finished 20th in the Yates No. 38 Ford Fusion. He ran as high as 16th and made some late race passes to put himself in the top 20 for a $175,183 payday. His Yates teammate, Travis Kvapil, started 28th in his No. 28 Ford and finished 36th as the last driver on the lead lap..
|
