Drivers readying for smoother, faster RIR

RICHMOND, Va. -- NASCAR's announcement of the 2005 Nextel Cup schedule seems to have relegated the Chevy American Revolution 400 to second-class status this weekend, but there is still a race Saturday night.

And there's a race to run on a repaved track, which has anxious drivers fretting over Richmond International Raceway's .75-mile oval rather than worrying about next year's schedule.

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After last fall's race, RIR officials began a multi-million dollar capital improvement project that included a new drainage system and, of course, repaving the track.

Eighteen Nextel Cup drivers tested the new pavement, and they all agree it is much smoother and much faster than before.

What does that mean for the race? Of course, no one knows. But there are an abundance of opinions.

	Matt Kenseth

"Well, I got to test it and I think it's much, much faster," Matt Kenseth said. "You're going to see lap times go up, maybe a new qualifying record -- but I don't think any of us know how it will affect side-by-side racing until Saturday morning's practice session."

Most of Friday's practice will be spent getting the car handling for one lap of qualifying. Friday afternoon's qualifying session will be all the more important, especially if passing is even more difficult.

But that's Friday. What about Saturday's race?

"It all depends on how much rubber is put down throughout the weekend," Brian Vickers said. "All of the tire rubber from the Busch Series race on Friday night will definitely help for Saturday night, but it may be later in the race on Saturday before you see drivers starting to test out another groove."

New pavement means more grip all the way around the track, but with the grip the same across the width of the turns, the fastest way is the shortest way - the bottom of the track.

"The track is gonna be totally different this time because it has just been repaved," two-time Richmond winner Dale Jarrett said. "My concern right now is that we're gonna have a one-groove racetrack. I understand it's extremely fast, and that's not necessarily the best recipe for good racing -- fast. That's not where we put on our best shows at the places that are the fastest, but hopefully throughout the weekend it'll get to where we've got some grooves.

"It's always been a great racetrack. You can't argue with the success that they've had there with having fantastic finishes, so we'll look forward to going there in hopes that we get two or three grooves worked in."

	Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart, who has won three times at Richmond, isn't quite as optimistic.

"It's really nice, but the downside to fresh asphalt is that it always makes it hard to pass," Stewart said. "And on top of that, we're running over a second faster than what we normally run there, so it's going to be that much more difficult to pass. The car becomes more aerodynamically dependent, something you don't normally have at a short track.

"I'm not sure the racing will be as good as everybody hopes, but the good thing is that as long as the surface holds up throughout the weekend, it'll be a surface that'll last for a very long time and probably only get better with age."

That's what usually happens with worn pavement. As the lower groove goes away, drivers look to other parts of the track to go fast. That works in a second groove, and if the track is right, often a third groove develops.

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"I liked the now 'old' Richmond," Jeff Green said. "I liked the idea of laying down the sealer every year or so. Eventually the sealer would push up to the outside of the track, and you had two or three grooves of good racing. You can't do that with the fresh pavement. It's going to take time for the track to become two grooves, and I don't believe it will be two grooves this weekend.

"This weekend there is just going to be a ton of grip on the inside groove, and the outside groove will be like spinning your tires on ice. Everyone will hug the bottom."

While drivers worry about having a second groove, they won't be worrying about wearing the tires out. When Kevin Harvick first tested the Goodyear tire, it wore out after 25 laps. So the tire maker went to a harder compound, and voila! problem solved.

"Tires aren't going to be a factor at all," Jamie McMurray said. "We ran just as fast on our 70th lap as you could on brand new tires. I think you're going to see people not even put on tires and just put in fuel to gain track position. You're not going to see anybody pit and put four tires on and drive back through the field. Tires just aren't a big deal. The track's got a lot of grip and the tires are not wearing out, so it's going to be interesting. It'll be similar to last year."

	Jeff Green

Welcome back to fuel mileage racing? Well, most folks hope not.

And most hope for more than one groove Saturday night.

"Nobody wants to see it, but I think the racing is going to be follow-the-leader," Green said. "It's back to bump-and-run to pass. It's tough. That's just part of the deal when you repave a track -- it becomes a single-lane track. There is just a ton of grip at the bottom, and if you're not racing there, you're just losing time.

"The only way to pass somebody will be to try and force them up high so you can go underneath them. It's going to be hard to pass all night unless we can work in the outside groove quickly."