A dip between Turns 1 and 2 at Texas has gotten the attention of drivers, track officials and NASCAR. Credit: Autostock

Bump has drivers scratching their heads

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently that goes for the dip over the tunnel area between Turns 1 and 2 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Or at least the stories around it.

	Dickies 500 Top 10 qualifiers Pos. No. Driver 1. 25 Brian Vickers 2. 19 Elliott Sadler 3. 2 Kurt Busch 4. 9 Kasey Kahne 5. 48 Jimmie Johnson 6. 11 Denny Hamlin 7. 38 David Gilliland 8. 20 Tony Stewart 9. 7 Robby Gordon 10. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. • Complete lineup, click here

Although track officials say the dip hasn't gotten bigger since 2004, many Nextel Cup drivers preparing for Sunday's race on the mile and a half track are starting to notice it more.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. first mentioned it last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway to earn the bump the nickname "Dale's Dip." Jimmie Johnson called it a "huge hole" earlier in the week.

Denny Hamlin called it a "very violent bump" on Friday. Jeff Gordon said it's "significant" and will impact the race.

"The primary thing we're working on is getting us through the bumps," Gordon said before qualifying. "That's on our minds, definitely.

"It's something that upsets the car. We have them a lot of places we go. The problem is it's so smooth and it has so much grip and it's so fast everywhere except for that area that it stands out a lot more."

The bump is a sensitive issue to track president Eddie Gossage. He reminded that his facility has been one of the most aggressive in NASCAR at fixing problems, noting the surface has been repaved twice and banking adjusted since the track opened in 1997.

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"We're going to look at it after the race is over," Gossage said. "If it needs to be fixed, we'll fix it."

Earnhardt suggested that section of the track, where the ground has settled over the tunnel as happens at many tracks, should be repaved. He said the difference between this dip and others is it runs from the bottom of the track to the top and gets worse at the top.

"That'll hold this track back until they fix it," he said.

The width of the dip makes some drivers less reluctant to explore a second groove higher on the track.

"But we did see a few guys running, [spring race winner Kasey] Kahne particularly, that ran very well in that outside groove the last time we were here," Gordon recalled.

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Hamlin remains skittish about the high groove and is watching carefully to see how others negotiate it. He expects the dip to be a factor at some time on Sunday.

"Once you get a bunch of cars around and they start hitting that bump and the cars starting moving around, it'll be an impact for sure," he said.

Not everybody is complaining, saying they would rather have the dip to contend with than a newly-resurfaced track.

"I don't want them to repave it and have it be single groove again," points leader Matt Kenseth said. "It's the same for everybody. We all have to run through it."

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said nobody has complained to the sanctioning body.

"Maybe they want to play it out in the press," he said with a laugh. "It's just like somebody asked me what we're going to do about the sun in the drivers' eyes. Are we supposed to pick the racetrack up and move it or what?"