Cup teams reporting blistering tires
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Some NASCAR Sprint Cup teams are still reporting blistering of right-side tires after practice Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway.
A full fuel run is 41-44 laps, and teams have shown signs of blistering before then. Blistering of tires during the Budweiser Shootout
Saturday night affected cars that had about 33 laps on them, and not all of those were under green-flag conditions.
“A lot of guys have made some progress and improvements and there are still a few guys still struggling, trying to find answers,” said Goodyear program manager Greg Stucker, who didn’t have an exact number of teams that had trouble with blistering Wednesday. “[The blistering] is a little less severe than what we saw during testing and than they were early in the week.
“People were trying different things with suspension and setups.”
Drivers hope that it gets better as more rubber is put on the track during races Thursday, Friday and Saturday prior to the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
“As the races progress on through the weekend, the more races you have, the longer it’s going to go,” Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin Said of the tire. “By Sunday, we’ll be able to go a full fuel run and have no problem.”
The cool temperatures Wednesday might have contributed to the blistering because speeds were faster than they would be on a hotter, slicker track.
“It appears this car doesn’t fall off a lot,” Stucker said. “It’s consistent.”
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