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There weren't that many bad calls on timing and pitstops.
Stewart will start Sunday
By Bob Pockrass
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
CONCORD, N.C. - Defending Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart will start Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400 at Dover International Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs said Tuesday afternoon.
Gibbs said during a break of the test of the "car of tomorrow" that the team would release an official statement later in the day updating the condition of Stewart, who broke his shoulder blade in a crash during the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday.
"He's definitely sore, no doubt about it," Gibbs said. "We'll know more here in a little bit."
JGR Senior Vice President Jimmy Makar said the team is looking at its options and has a short list of drivers available if needed to spell Stewart this weekend. Mike Bliss, a former JGR driver, is on that list. Bliss was at the track Sunday in case Stewart had to get out of the car from beings sore as a result of a Busch Series accident.
"Usually an injury like that comes from the seat, and the design of the area of the seat, we're looking at that to see if there is anything we can do or something that needs to be given some attention," Makar said. "Bobby [Labonte] sustained an injury at Darlington years ago, a lot worse than Tony's. We think we know what it is, and we're going to address that area to see if we can get some more support under the shoulder."
The accident, coming on the heels of a hard accident the day before in the Busch Series event, was the result of a bead melting in the tire. The outside of the tire was fine as far as temperature, Makar said.
"That's something we see on occasion at short tracks - we use a lot of brakes and get a lot of brake heat," Makar said. "For a speedway like this, that's a really odd thing to see. Tony said he wasn't using an excessive amount of brake compared to what he has done here in the past.
"We're kind of shaking our heads a little bit about why that happened, where that heat came from."
Mentioned Drivers: Mike Bliss
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