Tech Q&A: Ben Leslie

CONCORD, N.C. -- Mark Martin had a renaissance year of sorts in 2002, finishing second in the Winston Cup points standings and winning the Coca-Cola 600. That victory was the first for crew chief Ben Leslie, meaning it was more than just another race.

The 600 itself is more than just another race, too. The extra 100 miles presents an added challenge to drivers and teams, but the real problems start when you consider the race begins during the day and ends after nightfall.

NO. 6 TEAM  •  Ben Leslie's crew chief page  •  Mark Martin's driver page  •  2002 Coca-Cola 600  •  Roush Racing team page  •  Store: Mark Martin gear

Leslie recently spoke with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery about the difficulties of the Coca-Cola 600, as well as how the team is doing since the victory last May.

The 600, with the extra 100 miles, how big a factor is that with wear and tear, chassis setup and things like that?

"It's a pretty big factor on wear and tear on the engine and the drivetrain on the car. The chassis setup doesn't really have as much to do with the extra 100 miles as it has to do with going from the daylight to the dark. That's a concern about chassis setup.

"The extra 100 miles does put a strain in drivetrain, motor parts, chassis parts. Our stuff, over the years, has been tuned around a 500-mile race. There are some measures you take to be a little more conservative. There are some worries that goes along with the last 100 miles."

Do you sacrifice performance at all for a little reliability, maybe moreso for this race than any other one?

"Yeah, due to the last 100 miles, you give up a couple horsepower in the motor to be a little conservative on some things that you wouldn't normally do. You give up some stuff in the car. There are little things. In all actuality, you probably never see it to begin with. It's just something that you do for peace of mind. It probably doesn't hurt the performance of the car. It's probably immeasurable when it converts to the performance of lap times."

	Martin currently sits 12th in points. Credit: Autostock

With regards to the chassis and the car going from day to night, when you start the race, do you even care how the car is handling at all?

"Yes, because you don't want to get lapped, so you've got to be reasonable. If you're really on your game, and everything works out for you, you'll be real good at the start of the race, and then be able to have enough adjustability in the car to where you can adjust it so that when the sun goes down, you'll be really good then. Then you've got the best of both worlds. It doesn't always happen like that, but that's what you strive for."

How difficult is it to prepare for that kind of transition. Is there any other way, other than experience?

"Basically experience. Mark is real good about knowing what he needs. He's got a lot of experience at this race track and has a good grasp on what happens to it under normal circumstances. That's a huge attribute to have. You base a lot of your decisions on what has happened in the past and what the track did in the past, and if you came here and tested, what it did then."

People also talk about how this track, maybe more than any other, is temperature sensitive. Is that the case, and what does that do to chassis setup? Does it change 20 percent?

"At least 20 percent. This is the one of the most temperature-sensitive tracks. Temperature-sensitive and sunlight-sensitive. You end up with them both, obviously, mixed in when you go into the night. Even in the day race, when you get cloud cover, the track changes on you. But it can still be somewhat bright out. It has to do with the actual sun hitting the race track. So obviously when nightfall comes, and the temperature drops dramatically -- plus the sun's not on the race track -- that just magnifies everything. It's at least 20 percent the way the track changes."

Some people say that's a crew chief's nightmare. But I would think that you guys, being as competitive as you are, this is a challenge that you almost relish.

	Leslie is in his second year working with Martin. Credit: Autostock

"It's a challenge, and it's fun to do. But it can also give you a headache. Human nature, sometimes, is to challenge yourself. In doing that, sometimes you bite off more than you can chew some days. This place will do that to you. It'll make you feel awful good when you succeed, and it'll make you awful frustrated when you fail at making the right adjustments.

"It's good, in a sense, that if you start off junk, the track might not come to you; but you do have a chance. Some race tracks don't necessarily change a whole lot, so if you start off junk, you're pretty busy throughout the whole race. This place usually tightens up as it cools down and the sun falls, so if you were to happen to miss it or something happens and you start out real loose, you do have a little bit of security in the back of your mind. 'Well, under a normal circumstance, this place is going to tighten up, so maybe we'll end up being OK or pretty good.'

"Sometimes that doesn't always happen, but that's a little bit of peace of mind. Even if it's not true, you can still tell yourself that."

Was that victory last year the highlight of your career? Can that be topped?

"That victory was a piece of the highlight of what I have been able to be fortunate enough to be involved with. The whole season was. To see all these guys really dig in and work real hard for Mark, and Mark give them back the runs that we were able to put together -- if circumstance would have fallen our way, it would have been real easy for us to have three or four wins from last year.

"We were real fortunate to win a race. There were a lot of teams that would have liked to have been in our shoes. We were a little bit disappointed three or four times when we felt like we had the car to win the race, and either by circumstances that we caused ourselves or that somebody else caused for us, didn't get that chance.

"The whole year was a high point and something that I'm real proud to have been associated with. The race was a good part of it, but the whole year was something that I look back on and really am proud of what when on that year."

You guys haven't won since then but still finished second in points. Would a win jump-start you guys a little bit? Are you at the same level you were at last year?

	Martin's win at the 600 last year ended a long drought and sparked his title run. Credit AP

"I'm not so sure that we're not a little bit better than we were last year. We haven't had the finishes, but a lot of places, we ran better than we did last year. We get caught up in wrecks, we had a couple engine failures. But when you look back at it as a whole, if you look back and how we were running before circumstances, we've actually been a little bit more competitive this year on average.

"A win would certainly take the pressure off. To get your win for the season out of the way so you're not setting at the end of the year without a win -- that's a weight that everybody carries around. That would certainly take that out of the equation. These guys work really hard, whether we finish 20th or whether we finish fifth. They put the same effort into it. It's hard to say that a win would make us do any better than they're already trying to do. They're already doing everything they can."

Last year, the car was found to be too low. Two-part question: Did that add any kind of tarnish at all? And have you done anything to make sure something like that will never happen again?

"If somebody wanted to just look at black and white on a subject, they would say that it tarnished the win. If somebody wanted to really, honestly look at it and say, 'You know what? They were an eighth-inch low after 600 miles. That's asking a lot out of springs and shocks and everything -- spinning through the grass after the race on that same set of tires.' You want to look at it in the real world? The eighth-inch didn't do anything.

"Now, we've gone back, and since then all we've done is give ourselves more margin than we gave ourselves then. Before we start the race, where we would normally be an eighth to three-sixteenths high, we're a quarter high now. That's just something you've got to play by ear. Everything has a life expectancy, chassis springs included. It's just something that just wore out. It lost more than we expected it to."