The No. 77 Dodge is being driven by Travis Kvapil this season. Credit: Autostock

Shop Talk with ... Hebert

Brake specialist for No. 77 team on conquering Martinsville

Martinsville Speedway is acknowledged as the toughest track on brakes in Nextel Cup racing. Kevin "Tiny" Hebert is the brake specialist for Penske Jasper Racing and gives his thoughts on preparing a car for the brutal conditions at Martinsville.

Inside the Numbers The No. 77 car at Martinsville Year Driver Finish 1956 Fred Dove 29th 1958 Bobby Johns 4th 1959 Joe Lee Johnson 30th   Joe Lee Johnson 8th 1960 Joe Lee Johnson 29th 1961 Joe Jones 29th 1966 Joel Davis 13th 1970 John Kenney 27th 1972 Charlie Roberts 24th   Charlie Roberts 19th 1973 Charlie Roberts 20th   Charlie Roberts 22nd 1978 Chuck Bown 24th 1985 Greg Sacks 14th 1994 Greg Sacks 29th   Greg Sacks 26th 1996 Bobby Hillin Jr. 24th 1997 Bobby Hillin Jr. 33rd   Robert Pressley 38th 1998 Robert Pressley 23rd   Robert Pressley 15th 1999 Robert Pressley 23rd   Robert Pressley 35th 2000 Robert Pressley 15th   Robert Pressley 33rd 2001 Robert Pressley 40th   Robert Pressley 43rd 2002 Dave Blaney 17th   Dave Blaney 20th 2003 Dave Blaney 31st   Dave Blaney 37th 2004 Brendan Gaughan 17th   Brendan Gaughan 34th

Q: How do you succeed at Martinsville?

Hebert: I think the biggest things are the different types of compounds [brake pad compounds] that they've come out with lately. The biggest thing is keeping the temperatures down.

We've had problems in the past with boiling the fluids and things like that but I think with the cooling and with the different carbon fiber packages that we have as far as cooling ducts and cooling off from the ducts out of the windows. We've tested and found that that's been a big help.

I think that along with the different compounds you can keep in manageable now.

Q: Does NASCAR's gear rule help you? Gear selection can help make it easier on the brakes.

Hebert: That's very much true. We really haven't been anywhere yet to figure that out. We've had some really good tests. We tested Caraway for Martinsville and we had a really good brake test and I think that has a lot to do with it. I think that plays a major factor in it."

Q: Does track position play a major factor on brake life at Martinsville?

Hebert: I really don't think it makes a difference at Martinsville [laughs]. In a half lap you're around to the rear of the field if you are in the front and vice versa. To be honest with you, a lot of it has to do with the driver taking care of his equipment, not abusing it, and under caution staying off of everything and letting everything cool down.

Q: How much more time do you put into a car for Martinsville?

Hebert: It's about like superspeedways now. There's a lot more time into those cars and we put a lot more time into the short track cars.

Like I said, running cooling ducts, running all your fans, and all your duct packages and making sure that you have plenty of different types of brakes, different types of compounds for qualifying and things like that.

Q: Is there another track that's hard on brakes?

Hebert: Richmond. Richmond is almost as bad as Martinsville, believe it or not. There's a lot of speed down the straightaway. A lot of people don't realize but those are pretty tight corners there and you get up a lot of speed on the backstretch and frontstretch. We actually run the exact same package that we do at Martinsville at Richmond.