The Food City 500 at Bristol was kind of like a tropical storm. The build up, with anticipation of big destruction on the horizon. It just kind of spun along, there was plenty of wind and noise. But no hurricane.
If the experts are right, this week at Martinsville, Virginia could be a whole different deal. Jeff Hammond of Fox Sports and the Speed Channel says...
We could see a lot more cars with damage and a lot more guys being turned around. Drivers will think about what they should have done at Bristol, and some will think that they shouldn't have given a little bit for fear of knocking the radiator out of the car. But they should have a lot more confidence this week. more...
Owner's points from last year are out the window now. To stay in the top thirty five in owner points, you have to earn it, this year. That pressure has changed and some of the teams that had a pass for the first five races are facing a different reality. If the perfect storm hits, there are hungry sharks waiting to feed on the castaways. There could be some this week. Steve Waid, Scenedaily blog
At Bristol, there were some incidents in which a left-rear tire was cut when it was hit by another car’s front air splitter.
Cars race in close quarters at Bristol and even more so at Martinsville. If it evolves that there are more cut tires than usual, no one should be surprised.
Reckon we’ll see, right? more...
The collision of three fronts, team owner and sponsor desperation to make races consistently, with renewed confidence of drivers in the stoutness of their rides and finally, the naturally squally nature of a half mile bullring of a race track, well, the ingredients of the brew are available.
This could be the first named storm of the season. I vote for Robby.
I'm thinking very soon the splitter will cause problems not because of contact with tyres but from carbon fiber shards that cause flats.
It's fairly common in F1 after an accident that lays carbon fiber across the track for the tiny particles to create flat tires.
Considering it's Martinsville week this Stewart quote is appropriate:
"If I have a love-hate relationship with Martinsville, then we're missing the love part of the equation."
Posted by: marc | March 30, 2007 at 06:54 AM
Good point about the carbon fiber Marc. The stuff is so hard to see, NASCAR will be able to justify "debris cautions" with impunity.
Posted by: charlie | March 30, 2007 at 09:28 AM
Jeff Hammon is the man to listen to
Posted by: Robert Pitt | November 13, 2007 at 12:36 PM