Inside the Garage: Tryson

What will the new concrete surface do to the racing groove at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend? That's the question facing crew chief Pat Tryson as he prepares the No. 2 Dodge for five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch.

Q: With the new surface, is it a matter of starting from a clean sheet of paper or can you use your baseline setup from previous races there?

Tryson: I think everybody will show up with a baseline setup from the spring, because that's the only information we've got from the Car of Tomorrow at all. And with the track changes, we've got to start somewhere.

I think everybody will go with what they finished up in the spring race and adjust from there. We've all learned more about Car of Tomorrow as we've gone along, so I think we'll have some pretty good ideas of what we're going to adjust when we get there.

Q: Is there an advantage, having run the Car of Tomorrow there once before?

Tryson: I think it's all the same. We'd have to work on the Car of Today the same way we'd do the Car of Tomorrow. I don't think it makes any difference. Bristol is probably the least aero-sensitive place, so it's pretty much the same thing for both cars.

Q: Will there be anything different because of the new surface?

Tryson: I think it's actually going to have a little less grip than it did, so I think you're going to have to work a little harder to get your car to turn in the center. It's always hard to get it to turn in the center, but I'm expecting it to be even a little harder this time, and a little tighter off than we're used to.

Q: Wasn't that a problem with the COT back in the spring?

Tryson: That's an inherent problem with the Car of Tomorrow, is to get it to turn to begin with. Obviously, the new surface is really smooth and it's going to amplify that. We're going to have to work a little harder on turning in the center and turn off.

Q: How much does it help to have a driver like Kurt Busch, who has a lot of confidence at Bristol?

Tryson: He was the king of Bristol. Now that they've changed it, I guess we'll have to re-polish his crown. It helps a lot to have a guy that really knows what he's looking for in a car there. It makes it a lot easier when he knows what feel he wants there, so we just have to get it for him.