Cup cars remain idle without rain tires - for now
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, August 08, 2008
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James Rapp / NASCAR Scene
Max Papis watches the rain from his garage stall at Watkins Glen International.
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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Just six days after the Nationwide Series drivers competed in the rain on the road course in Montreal, Sprint Cup Series practice was delayed Friday because of rain at Watkins Glen International.
Which begs the question: Why do the Nationwide Series teams have cars with taillights, de-foggers and windshield wipers and can use rain tires while Sprint Cup Series cars don’t on road courses?
“The Nationwide Series, a lot of times, their schedule is more restrictive – if they wash out on a day that is a companion event, they have to go two days to get the race in,” NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday morning. “Logistics enters into it. Where Cup has always been the next clear day, which would be Monday, and they would always take precedence.”
The Sprint Cup cars here at The Glen are not equipped for racing in the rain – it is not on the entry blank for their event. It is on the entry blank for the Nationwide Series, which is scheduled to have practice today and then qualify and race Saturday.
“On the Nationwide side, it would be a lot of fun to give it a shot like they did last week,” said Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is scheduled to compete in both races this weekend. “Obviously Goodyear would like to learn a lot more about the tire before we tried that on the Cup side.
“On the Cup side, if you do that, it’s really got to be a situation where there is no other option. We could probably find another option, but it’s a great opportunity in the Nationwide Series to try to learn from it. Being the second-tier series, that’s where a lot of things are tested and a lot of trials and tribulations happen. It’s a good series for that.”
Pemberton wouldn’t rule out putting rain tires on the Cup cars for future road-course events. The tires were originally made when Cup had its exhibition events in Japan.
“Originally it was about Cup running in the rain, and then it got away from that – we felt like we needed to do their shows on the next clear day,” Pemberton said. “It’s been such a long time since we’ve been put in that position to utilize the wet tires, I don’t think anybody really knew what to expect.
“It was entertaining [at Montreal], and I think everybody did a great job. We would probably have to do some other changes to go along with it. Like anything, we’ll evaluate it.”
Goodyear has brought 600 rain tires for the Nationwide Series this weekend, and most teams have at least one set left over from last weekend. As long as it’s wet on the track, those tires show little wear.
“We’ve got more than enough rain tires,” NASCAR Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said Friday morning. “The wear was excellent on the tires last weekend.”
The Nationwide tires, even the slicks, are slightly different than the Cup tire. The circumference of the Cup road-course tire is 88.6 inches, while the Nationwide tire is 87.4 inches in diameter.
On ovals, typically the left-side tire in both series has a circumference of 87.3 or 87.4 inchesm and the right-side tire is 88.6 or 88.7 inches. On road courses, the circumference is the same on both sides of the car because drivers are making left-hand and right-hand turns.
The Cup cars could use the smaller Nationwide slick tires and rain tires, but would need time to change setups on the car because of the difference in their circumference.
“I liked racing in the rain – I thought it was fun,” said Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards, who is running in both series. “It looks like we might race in a little bit of wet on Saturday [in Nationwide], which would be crazy to do that two weeks in a row.
“The rain is fine with me. I had a blast.”
Comments
2 responses to "Cup cars remain idle without rain tires - for now"
Scott Baker said:
Aug 8, 2008 at 2:54 PMRun them in the rain, both series when needed. Finish the race the same day.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdel brown said:
Aug 9, 2008 at 7:27 AMDitto to what Scott said. NACAR has the reputation of being fair weather racing. It's past time to grow up and race in rain in all touring series. At lest on road courses. It might also be possible to eventually race in the rain at some short tracks. We'll never know if it isn't tried.
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