Gordon crew members feel penalties' pain

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Nascar

How will absences affect the No. 24 team?

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Although capable replacements have stepped in, crew chief Alan Gustafson says anytime a team loses a part of its crew, it’s a big deal.

"Yeah, there’s a lot of concern," Gustafson, crew chief for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet with driver Jeff Gordon, said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. "A lot of reaction like, ‘Those guys are insignificant.’ I think those guys are the heart and soul of a team. They’re the ones that build the cars and make them perform at the rate they do.

"So it is significant. It’s significant to them. They’ve worked their whole lives to get to this point to contend for a championship and be able to win a championship, to experience that emotion. And that’s gone."

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Four Hendrick Motorsports crewmembers were suspended earlier this week for their roles in a post-race fight following the AAA Texas 500 Sunday evening at Texas Motor Speedway. Three of the four — Dwayne Doucette (mechanic), Jason Ingle (engine tuner) and Dean Mozingo (truck driver) — work with Gustafson and the No. 24 team. Jeremy Fuller (tire changer) works with the No. 5 team of teammate Kasey Kahne.

Doucette, Ingle and Fuller were each fined $25,000 and suspended through the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races. Mozingo was fined $10,000 and suspended through the next three Sprint Cup points races.

Because only two races remain for the 2014 season, the suspensions will carry over into 2015.

Gustafson and Kenny Francis, crew chief for the No. 5 team of Kahne, were fined $50,000 and placed on probation for the next six points races.

Mechanic Kevin Hulsten has stepped in for Doucette while Billy Davis will handle engine-tuning duties previously done by Ingle. Heath Edler is one of two transporter drivers for the No. 24 team and will continue in that role.

For the No. 5 team, officials said Johnny Roberts, who served in the same capacity in 2013 with the group, has replaced Fuller as rear-tire changer.

"In the grand scheme of things, do we have the ability to backfill for them?" Gustafson said. "We do. But I think their personal stake in this is lost and I think that’s sad."

Hulston and Davis worked with the No. 5 team when Gustafson was crew chief for that team.

"I heard the phrase ‘they’re not over the wall guys’ but these cars have to perform at a really high level," Gustafson said. "If you don’t have the right people doing that work you’re going to be in trouble.

"I think we have the right people. There are always some growing pains, some communication issues that go on when you change. When you work together week-in and week-out you can generate natural communication."

The Texas brawl was the result of contact between Gordon and Brad Keselowski on the first of two attempts at a green-white-checkered finish.

A cut tire sent Gordon to the pits, and instead of battling for the win and a guaranteed spot in next week’s Championship Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the four-time champion finished 29th and enters this week’s race fourth in points.

After the race, Gordon pulled onto pit road, stopping his car alongside Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford. Following an exchange of words, Gordon grabbed the Team Penske driver by the collar and crewmen quickly jumped into the fray.

NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton, senior vice president, competition and racing development, said officials reviewed video of the altercation "and identified several crewmembers who crossed the line with their actions, specifically punching others."

Heading into Sunday’s Quicken Loans 500 (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET) and looking to Homestead, Gustafson said he’s confident his team can continue to perform at a championship level.

"I think we’ve been the best car on the track the majority of the season; I think we’ve been the best car on the track the last few weeks," he said.

"I can’t do anything about getting run over or cutting down a tire. All I can do is put the best car I can on the track and I think our performance speaks for itself when it comes to that."

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Posted on November 7, 2014 by Nascar

Goodyear: ‘In most cases, four cars is sufficient’

AVONDALE, Ariz. — With NASCAR banning testing for 2015, Goodyear officials say they have become "very, very popular" in the Sprint Cup Series garage.

Whether the ban results in a tremendous increase in the number of teams participating in individual tire tests for the supplier next season remains to be seen. But it isn’t likely.

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"We try to bring the number of cars that we need to accomplish what we need," Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear, said. "And in most cases, four cars is sufficient to do that."

NASCAR announced in September teams would not be allowed to test privately at sanctioned and non-sanctioned tracks beginning next season. For 2014, testing at non-sanctioned tracks was not limited. For sanctioned facilities (those hosting Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series races), organizations were allowed up to four tests.

In addition to a testing ban, teams will have a new rules package involving horsepower and aerodynamic changes to work through for 2015.

Team co-owner Jack Roush (Roush Fenway Racing) said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio recently that he’d been told Goodyear expressed concerns about supporting all teams for multiple tests.

"If that’s the case … then (NASCAR) has to go back and think about having more than four company tests, they may go back to like two tests or maybe even four the same as they had this year," he said.

Stucker said Roush was "kind of right," but that the bigger issue for Goodyear is making sure testing on the track takes place under the conditions necessary, and with the appropriate number of cars.

While Goodyear has the ability to produce the number of tires required for larger tests, having more cars on the track does not translate into more useful information. It would, instead, Stucker said, be overkill when attempting to hone in on potential changes.

"Let’s say we’re evaluating a new left-side compound," he said. "We might make 10 or 12 tires. That enables us to evaluate them on a couple of cars. Then maybe evaluate them on a back-up and then maybe do a long run. That’s typically what we would do.

"To say we would support 15 cars, 20 cars, it just doesn’t make sense.

"But the other piece you have to understand, depending on what we’re trying to evaluate — we may be trying to evaluate new compounds to help rubber in the race track. … If that’s something we are happy with, we want to make sure that doesn’t change.

"We may not want guys running around on just a control tire … at the same time we are because it may change the results. We have to be careful of that.

"There are just a number of different issues that we would be concerned about having that many cars there all at the same time while we’re trying to do our tire test that may change our results."

Under the current system, teams can purchase leftover inventory from the supplier, use whatever they may have themselves on hand or "trade some around," said Stucker.

Such was the case at Homestead Miami Speedway, where nearly all eight teams remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup recently tested. The tire recommendation for the season-ending event is the same that was used at Texas twice this season, as well as at Chicago.

"It’s an existing code that they have access to and can get," he said. "If we’re developing a new package, they’re not going to have access to that so they’re going to be running on something else and again, that may influence our results."

According to Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR senior vice president of innovation and racing development, officials continue to work with Goodyear for a solution suitable to all parties.

"When we announced on Sept. 23 the rules package for the 2015 season, we stated that we were eliminating all team testing and would be working with Goodyear to build a unified testing plan in which the teams could participate," Stefanyshyn said. "We currently are working through that process and have had on-going discussions with Goodyear to develop a proposal that we will share with the teams in the near future."

Stucker said two Goodyear tests are currently on the calendar, with no more than four or five teams taking part, at Charlotte in early December and Las Vegas in January.

"There is some discussion about Charlotte potentially having some time after we get done for the other teams to come run," he said. "It just makes sense because everyone is right there."

Conversations with NASCAR continue, and Stucker said the tire maker isn’t opposed to opportunities that would allow everyone to benefit.

"There’s Goodyear testing that needs to be done, there’s NASCAR testing that needs to be done, looking at not only 2015 but ’16 and going more in the direction of lower downforce, then part of that package we want to evaluate is what can we do tire-wise, right? So we need to be working together on a lot of those tests too," he said.

"So we’ve been trying to figure out, OK, how can we make sure that we get our work done, NASCAR gets their work done, and then what’s the opportunity to use additional time to let teams get some of the work done that they want to do and still reduce the number of tests?"

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