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Pressley finished ninth in his Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge and said the track affected his ability to contend.
"I thought before we started the race we had something for 'em, but the longer we ran, with the sealer coming off, the worse we got," Pressley said.
NHIS spokesman Fred Neergaard said the track has not been sealed this year, rather, new pavement was put down in the corners at each end of the 1.058-mile oval prior to the NASCAR Busch Series race in May.
Since then, Turns 3 and 4 were reground and repaved due to some issues with the original pavement. Pre-event testing was canceled due to the late paving. Neergaard added that the track changes color as rubber is put down.
Jimmie Johnson seconded that, but he was as confused as a number of other drivers were.
"The sealer on the track was coming up -- it reminded me of the way the Richmond race went," Johnson said. "It's hard to adjust the car when you've got sealer coming up and the sun coming out. We're going to be guessing a little bit as to what the conditions are going to be tomorrow and what set-up we need.
"I think the sealer is coming up. You could see the color in the track changing. It felt like there were patches that I would hit where I would lose grip in the car. It seemed like a sealer change to me -- between Turns 3 and 4 was the most visible place it was happening.
"We saw something happen at Richmond where the heat of the day and these heavy cars brought the sealer up during the day. At nighttime at Richmond, we didn't have any issues (but) when the sun came out today (second Happy Hour session) it seemed like it started softening up the sealer."
The difference in the two scenarios is that Richmond International Raceway did apply sealer to its .750-mile oval, while NHIS did not.
Conditions Saturday morning were overcast but the temperature reached the high 70s by 4 p.m., near the end of the Busch North Series race, the final event of the day.
"The Winston Cup cars are going to tear up some race track tomorrow," Pressley said. "It ain't coming up, but the sealer is coming up. You get in it and you'll go for a ride.
"The Cup cars -- with 800 horsepower -- they get in there, they'll rip that sealer up in a hurry. It could be a nice one."
Following the Busch North race, a couple veteran drivers in that NASCAR regional touring division downplayed talk of the track tearing up -- though they, too, were confused about what was down on the surface.
Defending Busch North Series champion Mike Olsen has been running at the track since it was opened in 1990, sometimes as many as four races a year in his Little Trees Chevrolet, while Martin Truex Jr. has a victory and two second places in eight starts in his Sea Watch Chevy.
"There was a lot of marbles and you could definitely see some ripples off of Turn 4, where the right rear tire runs," Olsen said. "I don't know if they sealed it -- I don't think they did -- but here in the past they've thought it was tearing up and it was just rubber buildup on the track.
"It affected my car a little bit, but we lost an engine in the morning practice and had to use our back-up car, which is down on horsepower, so it was hard to judge. It wasn't bad enough to where you wanted to straddle it and here in the past it's got bad enough to where you wanted to do that (but) I definitely think it might be an issue."
"I told the crew about halfway through it looked like last summer when we were here," Truex said. "It got real rough kinda where everybody was running. The groove would kind of change as the race went on, kind of like it did last year.
"As far as that goes, I think maybe the sealer was coming up --- I don't know, did they seal it? It definitely had a lot of rubber buildup because you could see the cars kicking it up under caution. It was really hard on the tires, kinda like the last time it come up.
"At any rate, I told them it was (coming up). My best guess is that it was a little bit but it wasn't too bad. At least you could race on it. It made the track a little bit slick but this place always gets slick when we come here in July.
"I think the biggest difference is that there is just a little bit less banking where you run now than there used to be and that kinda makes it even slicker yet. It's hard to say if it's coming up but it proved to be good racing today.
"There was a lot of passing and it was fun. I was pretty happy."
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