NASCAR to use smaller fuel cell at Las Vegas

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After three test sessions revealed an excessive amount of tire heat generated by Las Vegas Motor Speedway's new pavement, NASCAR on Sunday announced a 13-gallon fuel cell would be used in conjunction with a harder, newly-developed left side tire compound for its March 10-11 Nextel Cup and Busch Series events.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company conducted a tire test last December on the newly reconfigured and repaved 1.5-mile track, which now has 20-degree banking in its four turns, during which Greg Biffle had a high-speed crash while preparing for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

	RELATED STORIES
Drivers differ on LVMS Higher speeds close LVMS test Wrecks headline Day 1 of test

NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said Biffle's crash had little to do with the decision, but that wear and heat that was observed in open test sessions for Cup and Busch Series cars and tire performance led to the change.

"After discussing it with Goodyear, we feel like we have the potential for some of the same issues that we had at the Charlotte race last year," Pemberton said of the multitude of crashes at Lowe's Motor Speedway following another repaving job.

"So we've decided for those reasons to go with the 13-gallon fuel cell. And the tire will be different, as they've decided to change the left-side compound and maybe some construction."

For the most part, the Cup and Busch cars tested with the same tire, but Goodyear was already aware of some potential issues, Goodyear's marketing manager for stock car racing Phil Holmer said, and thus tested tires on the Busch cars that were developed between the two tests, which were only five days apart.

"In the progression of testing from [Goodyear's tire test] through the open test, there was more heat in the right side tires than we wanted to see," Holmer said. "Even though we had in December what we thought was the right tire, we came back to the open test with an even harder left side and the same right sides."

Holmer said that right-side tire is now known as the "Charlotte right side" after its use last year.

"That [combination], too, was creating more heat and wear in the right sides than we were comfortable with," Holmer said. "The engineers had a few ideas they wanted to try and they had time between Cup and Busch tests to make a few sets of experimental tires."

Holmer said with the tires, which were the hardest left side tires tried, the Busch cars were "three- to four-tenths of a second slower on a lap, which is what we wanted."

"We did our part to slow the cars down, because this track has terrific grip and terrific speed," Holmer said. "And grip and speed on the new track with the new [asphalt] equals heat -- and heat's the biggest enemy of a tire.

"And when you don't get any wear on a track like that, which we weren't seeing, you get even more heat. So what you've got to do is find something as resistant as possible; and the combination of the tire compounds and the smaller fuel cell should help a lot."

This season NASCAR had planned to cut the size of both the "standard" cars' and the Car of Tomorrow's fuel cells to about an 18-gallon capacity.

"As we go into this new day and age, with new pavement and things like that, the surface is a little too abrasive right off," Pemberton said. "We do just need one race under our belts and we'll adjust accordingly, after that."

Pemberton said the Busch Series would also run the smaller fuel cell for the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas. He also said the sanctioning body had no problems with Goodyear, which recently signed a long-term extension as the sole supplier of Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series tires.

"Goodyear is doing a good job and they're a good tire supplier," Pemberton said. "I think nowadays with the repaves and the things of that nature it takes some time to get the abrasiveness of the pavement knocked down a little bit."

The situation for Las Vegas is different than the complaints being heard at Daytona about the harder tire Goodyear is using in preparation for the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 -- but the major difference is that the Speedweeks tire is the same one that was used for a week of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder testing in January.

LVMS reacted quickly to exploit the fact that more pit stops, while being done to reduce tire heat buildup and wear; might actually enhance competition.

"NASCAR's decision to use 13-gallon fuel cells for both the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 and Sam's Town 300 will make for an even more exciting race," LVMS general manager Chris Powell said. "With the increase in the banking from 12 to 20 degrees, there are a lot of unknowns, including race set-up and tire compounds the teams will face for both races.

"This decision should keep the racing tighter and give the teams more opportunities to measure tire wear. Plus, we moved the pit road 275 feet closer to the grandstands, so this will give all of the race fans even more opportunities to watch the excitement of the all-important pit stops."