Notebook

High speeds dull excitement at Texas Motor Speedway

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Jeff Gordon isn't expecting too much excitement in Sunday's Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"It's too fast to put on a very good race," the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion said.

The 1 1/2-mile Texas oval has turned into one of the fastest in the stock car sport after being repaved over the winter. Worse, the new surface has turned it into a one-groove racetrack.

"I look forward to when the surface wears off," Gordon said. "Last year was a pretty decent race where you could get side by side. Now, it's going to go back to one groove. It's going to be extremely hard to pass."

Gordon said it's probably going to take at least three races before the Texas track starts to develop a second racing groove.

"Atlanta just started coming into its own last year, and they redid that place five years ago," he said. "They need to find a way to repave these racetracks with a weathered pavement so that it doesn't have so much grip at the beginning.

"The more grip we have, the faster we go. But it's also harder to pass."

Gordon will make his 300th career start Sunday.

Highs and lows of spotters' view

The drivers' spotters spend the race at Texas Motor Speedway in a luxury suite.

It's more comfortable than being on the roof of the press box, but it isn't ideal for a spotter's work.

"Texas is the only track on the circuit where we do not stand on a roof," said Mike Calinoff, the spotter for Matt Kenseth, who is second in the points standings. "They have us in a suite and it can get a little distracting when you can hear 42 other spotters talking to their drivers."

Benson to make a pitch

Winston Cup driver Johnny Benson will throw out the first pitch for the Texas Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington on Saturday night.

Benson once threw out the first pitch at a minor league game in Grand Rapids, Mich., but this will be his major league debut.

"I think some of my crew guys are going to the game Saturday night to cheer me on or heckle me," Benson said. "I guess it depends if I can get the ball across the plate or if I bounce it in the dirt."

Chevy's heavy drought

The last time Chevrolet reached the seventh race of a Winston Cup season without a victory was 1971.

Chevrolet's 381 wins are the most by a manufacturer since 1972, but that total hasn't changed this year for Team Monte Carlo.

Because drivers will be running at high speeds with constant stress on the engines, Sunday's 500-mile race will be the toughest test yet of NASCAR's new "one-engine" rule, which requires the teams to practice, qualify, and race with the same engine.

"Before this new rule, the teams had a pretty good idea of what would last 500 miles. They knew where they could push the envelope a little," said Jim Covey, GM Racing's engine development manager. "But now, my guess is that they'll be fairly conservative. They've got to practice, qualify, and race with the same motor, which could add up to 700 miles."

Chevy driver Gordon said the one-engine rule is "definitely a concern. We've had problems at places like Atlanta and Chicago last year, so coming to a track like this is of definite concern. Randy Dorton and all the guys in the engine shop have been working hard to make sure we can run here for long periods of time. I think they've got a pretty good handle on it."

 

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