by Mike Maruska
3/3/2008
For the first 263 laps of the UAW-Dodge 400, it was a pretty uneventful afternoon. There were a few crashes, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth were taking turns leading and the race was moving along at a nice, if tame, pace. Then with one restart things got crazy. Dale Earnhardt Jr spun his tires which caused Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon to change lanes and eventually led to Gordon spinning Kenseth. Then Greg Biffle bumped Gordon towards the inside retaining wall and a scary crash. Edwards then held off Junior and Biffle to claim the win, and fail post-race inspection, but the crash was what stood out. “That’s probably the hardest I’ve ever hit and you know it was my fault,” Gordon said after race. Coming from the driver that survived scary crashes at Pocono and Lowe’s in the last two years, that’s saying something.
Gordon’s wreck was forceful, but he was able to walk away. The initial reaction was that the car did its job, but it also raised questions about the inside walls and converting them to SAFER barriers as well. I also don’t understand why the inside wall would have a bay that juts in and increases that chances of a car hitting the corner straight on. Gordon was fortunate not to strike the wall squarely. Who knows what could have happened then.
Speaking of hard hits, Tony Stewart suffered one hitting the outside wall. It looked like a typical crash–not that there is ever a “typical” crash–that we see most weekends, but Stewart took a long time to climb out of his car and then walked very gingerly. The safety devices did the job in both Gordon’s and Stewart’s wrecks, but can more be done?
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Dale Earnhardt Jr made a suggestion regarding the tires that makes some sense:
“The tire is a little hard, I am curious as to whether we could bring a softer tire and not have wear problems. If that was possible, I would love that. Give us just a tiny bit of left side grip for the center of the corner, just a tiny bit. I think the track here has aged enough that can explore that and see what is up. They are doing the right thing, trying to be cautious on that stuff. “At the test in the winter time when the track has not got rubber down, you are going to wear tires out. So it would be great to do tire testing right after these races, you would get a good idea what kind of tire you got.
Not only would it give better feedback in race conditions, it would also eliminate any advantage for teams attending the tire tests in teh winter. Of course the problems would be keeping the crews at the track for an extra day, especially a west coast track like Las Vegas.
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Chevy hasn’t won in the last four point races dating back to Homestead. It is the longest drought since September 2004 when Ford and Dodge won four races.
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Hat tip to Ken Schrader for running on the lead lap for the entire day. He finished 21st, the best finish for BAM Racing since Mike Bliss posted a 17th at Bristol almost a full year ago.
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When was the last time the #48 team missed the setup? They’ve had races where they struggled or suffered poor finishes from crashes, but in the last two years Jimmie Johnson it would be hard to find more than one or two races where the team was out to lunch.
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Both Haas-CNC cars spent the first 150 laps in the top 15 and Riggs top 10, then within 15 minutes both were involved in accidents. Jeremy Mayfield was able to change tires and continue his strong run to finish 16th, but Riggs wasn’t as fortunate. He spent 147 laps in the top ten, but could only manage a 36th place finish for his effort.
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If not for the late spin by Kenseth, Roush-Fenway may have placed four of their five drivers inside the top 10. Edwards won, Biffle was third and the rapidly improving David Ragan came home 6th. Edwards, Kenseth and Biffle also posted the top three driver ratings for the day.
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The top 35 puzzle is starting to fill in. Right now five cars have entered the top 35 in owners points: Kurt Busch (12th), Brian Vickers (13th), and all three MWR cars (David Reutimann 30th, Dale Jarrett 32nd and Michael Waltrip 33rd). The five displaced teams are Dario Franchitti (36th), Robby Gordon (37th), Sam Hornish Jr (38th), Regan Smith (39th), and Kyle Petty (40th). The difference from 32nd to 40th is only 53 points, so things could change a lot in the next two weeks, but for the bubble teams with only two automatic berths left, it is officially time to begin sweating.
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