NASCAR Notebook

Track patches on Darlington surface upsets drivers

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- Drivers who hadn't tested at Darlington Raceway this summer got a surprise when they showed up to practice for Sunday's Southern 500.

The always-difficult 1.366-mile oval was made even tougher when asphalt patch was put down in Turns 2 and 4 in June.

Five-time Southern 500 winner Jeff Gordon, who didn't test, was upset when he saw the patches, heading straight to the NASCAR hauler to complain to Winston Cup director John Darby.

"It was horrible, ridiculous," Gordon said. "I had no idea it had even been done until I got out on the track for first practice. Now I understand why guys came and tested here."

Gordon acknowledged the track surface was rough last year with pieces of pavement coming up, and that something had to be done.

"But the track has always been abrasive and slick, and the patches, they needed to put them in the whole corner or not at all," he said. "Now it grabs and grips. You go hard and it's like you are racing on ice, and then all of a sudden, you are gripping in just a few spots.

"I'm really disappointed they did it this way. NASCAR should be the ones to say we should do this and bring in paving engineers to correctly fix the problem. But instead, the track just goes and does it and we end up paying the price."

Terry Labonte, Gordon's teammate and the 1980 Southern 500 winner, said, "It was pretty rough before and the patch is just as rough as it was. I'm not sure exactly why they patched it."

Track spokesman Cathy Mock called the patches "regular track maintenance."

Tire wear will likely play a major part in team strategy Sunday.

"I told (my team), `Well, we don't have to worry about whether to get two tires, four tires, just gas, whatever," Labonte said. "You're going to get four tires every time here.

"I don't think (Goodyear) can make a tire that wouldn't fall off," Labonte said. "It's just like running a cheese grater over that tire."

Safer walls

Richmond International Raceway president Doug Fritz says a new wall system to protect drivers will be in place for next week's races.

The barriers in the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) wall system run for 1,197 feet each around turns one and two and turns three and four. The walls are 40 1/2 inches high and contain steel tubes and 22 inch-thick blocks of Styrofoam that are placed between the original wall and the new wall.

Fritz was proud his was the first short track with such technology. "The response we have already received from the drivers has been overwhelming," he said.

Bill Elliott is pleased the SAFER barriers are coming to more tracks.

Referring to the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500, Elliott said, "I think any time we go for better, safer ideas, I think that's the evolution of what we've learned from Dale's incident at Daytona several years ago. Everything we've done now is in a positive direction."

The Richmond track holds Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series races next weekend.

New truck

The Toyota Tundra race truck had its first test this week, running at North Carolina's Caraway Speedway on Wednesday.

The truck will debut at Daytona International Raceway in February.

Veteran racer Joe Ruttman handled the test session at the .455-mile oval in Asheboro.

The tests were used to learn the truck's basic characteristics and see where engineers need to tweak things before the 2004 season.

"For being its first time on the track, I really was impressed with the truck's performance," Ruttman said. "It hit as close to the mark as any new race vehicle could hope to achieve for a first test."

More Tundra tests are planned this fall.

Spark plugs

Ricky Rudd will run in his 54th Darlington race Sunday, more than any other active driver. ... Nineteen of 100 Winston Cup races here have been won from the pole and 66 by drivers starting in the top 10. ... Kyle Petty, who once said the Darlington track should be flooded and turned into a fishing pond, has not posted a top-10 finish here in his past 19 starts. ... Bill Elliott has an average finish of ninth in 50 Darlington starts. ... Track officials said Sunday's race was not a sellout, but is expected to be the biggest crowd ever at Darlington.