Track position, tire wear on former winner's minds

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jimmie Johnson proved last year he could slice through traffic to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If he wants to repeat at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, he'll have to do the same thing Sunday.

The reigning race and Nextel Cup champion qualified 19th Saturday, hours after posting the second-slowest time among the 49 cars that took part in a rescheduled practice session. Track position is key at notoriously narrow Indianapolis, where only two of the last 10 winners have started outside the top 11.

Johnson started fifth last season, but blew a tire and was penalized for pitting too early, forcing him to the back of the pack early in the race. He rebounded to lead the final 10 laps, recording a victory at a facility that had frustrated his Hendrick Motorsports team to that point. He'll need another rally Sunday, when he and teammate Jeff Gordon will both start deep in the field.

"This year reminds me a little of last," Johnson said. "We went into Saturday night pretty concerned about how we were going to race, and had a great race on Sunday. We're pretty concerned right now, and hopefully we can get things turned around tonight and have a solid performance."

Johnson's team worked on race trim in practice, and used the qualifying setup from Gordon's car. They produced nearly identical results -- Johnson in 19th, Gordon in 21st. A four-time Brickyard winner, Gordon needs another victory Sunday to tie former Formula One great Michael Schumacher for the track's all-time record. Comfortably in the Chase, the point leader can make some pit-strategy gambles others can't afford.

"I'd certainly like to start up front, although I know I'm going to start pretty far back," Gordon said. "But I think we've got a great racecar. It plays in with our pit strategy, and we have to make sure that we have an awesome racecar that can work through the traffic."

Tire wear was on Johnson's mind as much as starting position. Rain on Friday washed out all track activity, and kept the track green for Saturday's three-hour practice. Johnson said drivers wore their tires down to the cords after only a few practice laps on Indy's diamond-ground surface.

"This tire isn't laying into the track like we hoped it would," Johnson said. "It's almost turning into a powder and a dust. If you look inside the cars, you can see it on the hood and down the right side of the cars where the tire is just chewing away. It's not smearing down into this abrasive asphalt that we have here."

Gordon experienced the same problem. "First time out, I think I made three laps and saw cords. The next time out, I made six laps then cords," he said. "We were just working on getting the speed and balance, but as your balance gets better, speeds get better and your wear gets worse. But it's a common thing we fight here at Indy. This is one of those tracks where Goodyear comes in with their fingers crossed, no rain, lots of laps. They had too much rain [Friday], and luckily, they were able to get some laps. But it's definitely going to put us behind."

NASCAR mandated competition cautions in last year's race because of a blowout suffered by Kurt Busch on Saturday. Drivers expect a similar scenario this year.

"You made a straight 10-lap run, your tires were going to wear to the cords," said Denny Hamlin, who will start 10th. "I definitely look for there probably to be a mandatory stop early in the race to check tire wear. Once we get rubber on the racetrack, it should be a lot better."

Not every driver had the same problem. "We didn't have any [tire] problems, which is a good sign," said Tony Stewart, who will start 14th. "That's a really good sign for the race [Sunday]. I'm excited. I think we're going to have a good day."