Rusty Wallace, left, and Larry Carter will be shooting for their first victory in the Cocal-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Credit: Autostock

Shop Talk with ... Larry Carter

Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 is more than just NASCAR's longest race. It is a wide-open, run-it-till-it-pukes-or-wins shootout at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Broken down, it's the ultimate test of both men and machines. It is NASCAR's equivalent of the Ironman triathlon: endurance is not for the weak, and only the strong survive.

The Coca-Cola 600 means 400 laps around Lowe's, 66 more than normal. Even though many races have 400 or even 500 laps these days, none of those races takes place on a track as large as Lowe's, with as many variables.

	LARRY CARTER •   Crew Chief Page

It's a true-blue test of engineering, talent and outright stubbornness for NASCAR's drivers. The best setup often wins races, but setups don't mean a tinker's damn without the horses to pull it around the track. Emotions run hot, especially as the night wears on, and drivers, teams and spectators alike greet the challenge with a near-palpable glee.

Crew chiefs, as the quarterbacks of every racing team, are responsible for game-planning the lengthy race, and their jobs are made tougher by the necessity of saving every bit of wear and tear they can on their machine's moving parts.

Larry Carter, in his role as Rusty Wallace's crew chief, sees this last as the most important factor in surviving Charlotte.

Is there anything special you do, given the fact that it is such a long race, to set up for the 600?

Well, one thing I think a lot of people try to do is just not run their engine a lot. With the new rules, we can't change engines and it's a 600-mile race. At the end of the day, Lowe's is one of the few places now that we see people have engine trouble. You have to keep as many miles off the engine as you can, yet get enough practice time to learn what you need to know to run well.

That makes the All-Star race even more important, doesn't it?

Yeah, as I said, it's a big tool to try to get your car tuned in for the two weeks.

Handling-wise, with the reconditioned pavement, what do you see happening there?

We didn't test, but our teammate [Travis Kvapil] did. We've gotten a little bit of input from them on kind of a direction to head, so hopefully that will help us start pretty good and be able to tune on it from there.

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Are tires traditionally a problem at Charlotte?

Not typically, although I understand they did have a few tire problems there during the recent tests.

How have you reacted to the smaller spoiler and softer tire this year?

I think the cars in general have been a little bit more free than they were last year. We've had to work on that a little bit. The tire, the loss of spoiler and the new nose and bumper for Dodge has some of the teams regrouping a little bit. It looks like everybody is adapting and catching up, so I think everybody will be a lot more competitive.

Traditionally, when the sun goes down, the track tightens up somewhat. Does that mean that the cars themselves are a lot looser during the night-race practices?

That was typically the rule of thumb, but it's not necessarily true now. We've actually seen some of the cars get freer instead of tighter as the sun goes down. That's another thing we're learning as we go, the tires and stuff.

When you're up on the pit box plotting strategy, do softer tires change your outlook?

It changes the strategy, but it changes everybody's strategy. It's not any different for the other guy than it is for me. You just have to rethink what you're doing a little bit. It's going to be more four tires than two or none. Just depending on how many cars you have on the lead lap, you have to play that into your decision.

The tire a couple of years ago was very hard, and now it's pretty soft. Is adaptation the key?

It's that way across the board for everybody. You really kind of build on your history, which is the first eight or 10 races we've had so far, and you have to take good notes and rely on what you've learned up to this point in the season and just keep building on it.

Having worked with Rusty for a while, how hard is it to adjust to his driving style with your setups?

Wherever you go, and whatever type of driver you have, you have to have the ability to adapt to their style. I think the worst thing you can do is bump heads with a driver, because you're counting on this guy to be confident and want to run hard. Rusty has a lot of input into what we do, a lot of say over what goes on during the race, and we try to make suggestions as to ways we think we can help him.

Is it a benefit to your team to have the PRS chassis?

I think so. They're good, safe cars. They had one at a crash test recently, and it was one of the hardest hits they've ever subjected a car to. They were really surprised at how well the car held up. Those guys [in the chassis shop] really do a super job assembling and building a really safe car. We're also able to incorporate other things that we think help us. It's hard to say, but from a safety standpoint that's probably the biggest thing.