It will be interesting to see how many hit it.

:)

I would almost bet that the first race or so it will be tried out. Several may just brush it as they do on other tracks.

Ron

Regarding pit lane speeding, quote from Jeff Gordon regarding Montoya's exit speed infraction from last year, which contributed in Montoya not winning the race:

"The bottom line is that he was speeding," Gordon said. "To NASCAR's defense their system that they have, you can't dispute it. They'll show you exactly which zone [you speed in]. After the race you can go find it and I've not heard one person come back and say that, 'Well, they were absolutely wrong.' Once they show them everything I would dispute the person that feels like they were in the wrong because their system is very accurate. But what I'm not confident in is our system. We have to be able to go and push the limits of that speed. I play it conservative and if my system breaks down I'm going to get caught speeding. If I play it too aggressively I'm probably going to get caught speeding. So it's still in our hands."

Due to the number of pit speed violations in the Nationwide race at Fontana, at the Cup drivers meeting Sunday morning, drivers were specifically warned by NASCAR about speeding on pit lane. The easiest zone regarding speed is the pit closest to the exit point of the track where the car is past the last timing zone start point.

While there is always the chance of a technical malfunction, NASCAR records and makes available to the Teams the speeds at a number of check points along the pit lane from yellow line to yellow line, , while allowing for a variance, i.e., if the speed limit is 55 , then the infraction is not enforced until the speed is 60. Just seems overall in all the races there are more announced exit speed infractions than entry.

Upon entry, the drivers are in a specific gear and use the tach as their reference point which is equated to MPH, in the absence of a speedometer.

During the reentry phase onto the track they are accelerating thru the gears along with the tires spinning ( higher RPM ), without the guidance of a specific tach reference point, and at the same time very aggressively attempting to improve their track position. The replays of the cars crossing the pit, upon exit, yellow line indicate how close the cars are attempting to gain and/or not lose track position.

They are normally allowed 5 MPH over the pit lane speed limit. But to many crews and drivers push it to the brink. If the speed limit is 50 MPH and you don't exceed 55 you are ok. But all it takes is a tach being off by 100 RPM and you will get that 55.002 speeding ticket. I know getting in and off is important, but I think I would set my tach and indicator about 100 RPM below the maximum to give myself a little margin for error. Maybe like some of the formula cars do, have a rev limiter that holds them under the pit speed. Does NASCAR have any rule forbidding something like that?

Ron

Ron,
Nascar does not allow a pit road speed limiter. I think they should do away with the 5MPH over limit. If they can hold it to 55MPH then they can hold it to 50MPH. If you give them a +5MPH over cusion then they are going to try and run +4.99999999 of it.
JMO

:)

Terry,

I agree and even if the held them to the exact limit they would still get tickets as they would still push it just as far as they can. And with the computers and timing rings, they aren't going to get away with anything. I wonder how many people lost very close races back when they had to use a camera and people to try and tell who got to the finish line first. It is hard to believe that any person had good enough vision to determine between cars that finish a few thousands of a second apart.

Ron

As Jeff Gordon stated, the end result of exceeding or not exceeding the pit lane speed limit is controlled by the drivers:

" We have to be able to go and push the limits of that speed. I play it conservative and if my system breaks down I'm going to get caught speeding. If I play it too aggressively I'm probably going to get caught speeding. So it's still in our hands." "

Good qualifying session yesterday. Jeff Gordon had the pole and a new track record for a short time and then Kurt Bush broke it and he is now on the pole. The track seemed to be in pretty good shape but there are some bumps in it that were giving some of the cars trouble. It is hard to run the splitter right on the ground when you have to go over bumps.

Ron :D

Well, the race was pretty good and Harvick had a great car. To bad that Danica got taken out by that car that was 62 laps down. I think NASCAR should start taking a look at letting cars that are so many laps down come back onto the track. You aren't going to gain any points when you are more laps down than there are left in the race.

Now I wonder how the lay off for a few months will affect her when she comes back to these heavier cars.

Ron :confused:

:D

Just watched the Cup race and Jeff Gordon had a dominant car until it really counted and then Jimmy Johnson drove away from him to win. The Roush cars were as usual. Just also rans to help fill the field.

Ron :(

JJ has made himself the modern Richard Petty hasn't he?

He sure has.

I think his team is awesome.

I really enjoyed yesterdays race. The changes made on the off season really did help with the racing, and I hope they continue. Was a lot of good action yesterday, and I was glad to see the low number of caution laps for a change. The lights not working properly were a bit of an annoyance, but it seems as though they got them fixed.

The racing has been better and as you said, the light thing was a little annoying. But Jimmy Johnson and his team are really great and they seem to really understand just what is needed on the car. If nothing happens to any of them, they could break a lot of records before they are finished.

Ron ;)

I have been a Jimmy fan since I saw him win his first Off Road championship back in the 90s. I think he will be known as one of the all time greats in the future. One thing, for sure he will always be known as the first man to win 4 back to back championships.

Joe, agree the #48 Team sets the high bar for everyone else to aspire to. They readily admit there was a degree of luck in last weeks track position with regards to their pit stop and the yellow flag. But, they were already in a position to influence their luck.

Believe there luck continued yesterday, as well as their excellence as a Team, when the #24 decided to take only 2 tires. With the number of laps remaining, still don't understand #24's 2 tire decision, which was driven by the desire for track position.

Don,

I thought they made a mistake when they were doing that. To many cars had tried it before and after a few laps they just faded. I have to agree with Darell Waltrip on his give me 4 new tires theory. If there had only been 10 to 12 laps left it might have worked, but most of the others after about 7 laps started falling back with just two new tires.

Ron

Wings to be gone soon.

http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/head...ing/index.html

Ron ;)

Jeff said in a later interview that they thought more teams would take 2 for track position and give them enough buffer to hold off the charge from the 4 tire teams. They were afraid that if they took 4 they would be too far back in the field to make it back. He said that was a case of watch the 24 team. If he takes 2, we take 4 so we can pass him, if he takes 4 we take 2 so we can get in front of him finally.

Yea, being the leader near the end of a race like that is a difficult position. You nearly always lose no matter what you do. I just think there were to many laps left for just tow tires and if he had taken 4 and the rest 2 he would have ran them down just like they did him. It is when you have 10 to 15 laps left and have been out on the tires for quite a while that the 2 tires can work as they won't wear out in that few laps.

Ron :)