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Goodyear tires from the #48 Lowes Chevrolet driven by Jimmie Johnson at the Brickyard. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon paced the final “Happy Hour” practice session for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, but they weren’t what people were talking about late in the day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Johnson had a best lap of 176.298 miles per hour at the 2.5-mile oval, while Gordon ran 174.958 mph to claim second. Behind the Hendrick Chevrolet Impala SS entries, it was Toyota-Ford-Dodge, as Denny Hamlin was third in a Joe Gibbs Racing Camry, followed by the Roush Fenway Racing Fusion of Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman in a Penske Racing Charger.
The big story, though, was where the rubber met the road, as drivers and teams were complaining that the abrasive IMS track surface was wearing tires down to the cords within five laps, especially right-side tires. A similar situation happened last year during practice, but went away during the race as more rubber got put down on the track.
This year, though, the problem seems worse, according to several drivers. “It’s a different game, but also it’s still one in the same,” said Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch. “We still have excessive tire wear on the right-hand side. … We have to make sure that we protect our right front tire, but that’s the same as it has usually been.”
Another issue was that as the tires wore out, the rubber that came off was getting trapped in the grille opening above the front splitters of the cars. Add it all up and the situation was a vexing one for the drivers and crew chiefs.
“I don’t think anyone’s made long runs yet,” said Carl Edwards. “I think what’s going to happen is once you get about 10 to 15 laps in the books, there will be some comers and goers. The setups are so wild on these cars.”
“Hopefully, the tire wear will get a little better and this won’t be an issue,” said Greg Zipadelli, crew chief for Tony
The most biting comment came from Chris Carrier, crew chief for the Penske Racing Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr. “The problem is that you have a 3,500-pound race car with a lot of horsepower that doesn’t handle real well going around a 2.5-mile track that has flat corners and an abrasive surface,” said Carrier. “Asking anybody to build a tire and come to this place and run two days of practice for a 400-mile race with the weight of these race cars, horsepower and amount of load is like asking somebody to invade Russia with a loaded shotgun. It’s pretty hard to do. Everybody is concerned about it.”
NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said during the “Happy Hour” session that teams will be allowed to use 10 sets of tires during Sunday’s race, up from nine a year earlier. NASCAR officials also are considering one or more competition cautions early in the race to check tire wear.
ALLSTATE 400 AT THE BRICKYARD PRACTICE 4 RESULTS
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
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