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Saturday, May 6
I though the new Goodyear generation tire had solved
the problems we saw here last year with blown tires.
Obviously it hasn't because we saw a rash of blown
right front tires Saturday night. Todd Bodine and Mark
Martin were just two drivers who lost front right tires and went into the wall and out of
contention.
It looks the problem with the tires are the brakes and heat generated by the breaks. We
saw brake rotors glowing on many, many cars -- that's about 1,100 degrees. And we
know those tires made out rubber can't stand that kind of heat.
With the competition so tough, these drivers are driving their cars hard into the corners
-- and using those breaks like never before -- that's what is causing the right front tires
to go flat.
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RICHMOND, Va. -- Mark Martin signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans Saturday, just like he does before most every race, but he barely said a word to the people assembled.
The Winston Cup star was working with a heavy heart.
Martin's nephew, 27-year-old Christain Lovendahl, was killed in a car accident in North Carolina on Friday, hours after the Busch Grand National team he was crew chief for failed to make the Hardee's 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Martin drove to a fourth-place finish in the Friday night race, making up 18 of 22 positions in a frenzied dash over the final 42 laps, and said later he never stopped thinking about Lovendahl even while dominating much of the event.
"It was on my mind every lap. I thought about it a lot," he said of the accident in an interview later. "It's a tremendous loss, a big loss."
Lovendahl, crew chief for David Ridling's No. 19 Busch team, got his start in NASCAR working at Martin's shop in 1982 at age 10, mostly sweeping floors. He got his break when he was named crew chief for Ridling's team before this season.
The decision to race was not one Martin enjoyed making.
"I will say I'm a little bit bitter that I had to be here doing that rather than being with and supporting my family, being with my sister," he said. "It was wrong that I wasn't there for them, and it would've been wrong if I would've been there for them, so I couldn't do anything. There was no right for me."
The Highway Patrol said Lovendahl's pickup was traveling at
about 80 mph in a 55 mph zone when it ran off the road and
overturned. Two team members in the truck who suffered minor
injuries said all three had been drinking, police said.
Martin said the circumstances of the accident didn't make it
worse.
"The loss is all that I can see. I don't see the rest of it,"
he said.
Martin ran among the leaders for most of the Pontiac 400 on
Saturday night, then crashed when he cut a tire on the 361st of 400
laps and wound up 32nd.
Bodine gives little brother the wheel
Geoff Bodine was the sentimental choice in the Pontiac 400 after qualifying fourth in his return from a fiery crash in February.
Bodine was running in third place behind Rusty Wallace and Mike Skinner when Robby Gordon hit the wall after 117 laps, and then he goofed big time.
Pit road was closed, but Bodine got out of line and pitted
anyway. He wasn't allowed to stop for service, then failed to beat
the pace car to the pit road exit and was held until the field
passed, dropping him to 31st position.
"I made a few rookie mistakes out there," Bodine said. "I
told the crew I was rusty and that I might, and I did."
Bodine, 51, got out of the car after 183 laps, turning the
driving duties over to his brother, Todd, who had been knocked out
of the race after 42 laps.
"It a tough track to come back on," Geoffrey Bodine said.
Todd Bodine completed a strong run for his brother, making up
two laps with perhaps the strongest car at the end and salvaging a
13th-place finish.
Marcis misses race, but bags turkey
Dave Marcis was 46th among 47 drivers in first-round qualifying and didn't even try again to make the race Saturday.
"We cannot make our car go fast enough. We can't make it. I might be stupid, but I'm not ignorant," he said. "To go down there and spend $1,500 on a set of tires just to do what, prove you're an idiot? I don't need to do that."
Marcis, 59, has missed eight of 11 races. He said his wife, Helen, tapes them all, but he either scans them quickly or doesn't watch them at all.
"I want people watching my car in the races," he said.
Marcis did pick up a nice consolation prize during his stay in Virginia.
On Friday, he went hunting at 4:30 a.m. with a friend and bagged a 21-pound, 2-ounce turkey, believed to be one of the biggest ever shot in Virginia. Marcis has sent the bird off for official certification, then plans to mount it.
"We'll display it with its feathers fanned. We saw it do that four or five times when we were waiting for a clear shot," he said. "It's beautiful."
Pit stops ...
Todd Bodine, who had the fastest car in happy hour, lasted just 42 laps before hitting the wall coming out of the fourth turn and retiring for the night. ... Jeremy Mayfield, whose team was fined twice this week for infractions in the last two
races, hit the wall in turn 3 on the eighth lap and went behind the
wall for repairs. He finished 36th. ... Paul Sawyer, the developer
and owner of Richmond International Raceway until he sold it to
International Speedway Corp. in December, was grand marshal for the
Pontiac 400. ... All but eight of the starters in the Pontiac 400
had led at least one lap in the season's first 10 races. Among
those not on the list was Tony Stewart, who ended that drought when
he led on the 209th circuit around the raceway.
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ALSO SEE
Repeat after E: Junior returns to Victory Lane
Busch Series crew chief Lovendahl dies in wreck
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