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Surprisingly, we’ve already reached the mid point of the Cup Series season.  The Truck Series remains off for another week, but both the NNS and Cup cars will head to Daytona for racing under the lights.  The NNS teams are at the beach already getting ready for their race, and the Cup haulers will be en route tomorrow.  While preparations go on, we’ve got more reader questions and answers for you.  If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Ric:

When NASCAR pit road Inspectors penalize a team is it first approved / cleared / checked with higher ups or what they say goes? Who makes the decision if a team argues / appeals a penalty?

A NASCAR official on pit road can call a penalty on a team just like a referee or umpire for any other sport.  They don’t need to check with race control first.  If a team wants to appeal, the official will get on the horn to race control, and any decision will be made by the guys in the booth. – T.C.

2. From Kevin:

Hi would like to know if any progress has been made on AJ’s contract and if not do you think he will have other options open in NASCAR or go back to open wheel?

Not that I’ve heard. I definitely think there are opportunities for Allmendinger in NASCAR – I think he’s worked far too hard getting himself acclimated to stock cars to make a return to open wheel. On top of that, he’s never expressed any interest in returning to open wheel competition. If we find out more we will certainly let you know! – Journo

3. From Lee:

What is the difference in race trim and qualifying trim? If in Q you run fastest, why slow the car down for the actual race? What are the differences in the two?

A car in qualifying trim wouldn’t make very many laps.  Between grill tape and air pressures, the car would blow up and blow tires.  Race trim allows the cars to still be fast, but also have enough longevity to make it to the finish.  The teams make setup changes to the car so it will be as fast as possible for those two laps.  That means things like pumping up the air pressures and having little or no grill openings.  In the Cup Series, teams can and will change some chassis elements too.  Qualifying = fast as possible for two laps.  Race = fast as possible for 500 miles. - T.C.

4. From yankeegranny:

What does it mean when a driver says the car needs to roll better through the center? How does that effect the car’s handling? Also, how can changing to a new set of tires(assuming no other changes were made) effect a car’s speed so much. You hear drivers say they were so much better or worse on a new set of tires, why?

This usually refers to keeping up the speed and momentum through the center of the corner.  The center of the corner sets up the exit, which is vital to being fast.  A car that gets off the corner well will look like it has 50 more HP then a car that exits poorly.  New tires mean more grip.  And more grip can be good or bad.  It also depends on tire pressures.  You’ll often hear a driver say the car is bad for the first few laps after a pit stop, but then gets better.  The car gets better because the air pressure in the tire builds up some.  As a run goes on, the tires will lose grip and slow down.  When we go somewhere with an abrasive track (like Darlington or Atlanta) notice how far the lap times fall off from the beginning to the end of a run. – T.C.

5. From Debbie:

After watching the haulers leave Loudon, I had a question. I knew I had to ask you for an answer! Do they drain the fluids out of the cars after a race before they load them for the trip back to Charlotte? Thanks!

Unless a team has to pull a motor out, the fluids remain in the car until it is unloaded and torn down back at the shop in Charlotte.  If it appears a car may have a small leak, the hauler drivers put down a product called Pig Mat that will absorb any fluids. – T.C.

6. From Ella:

How big a deal is the switch to a new kind of car in the Nationwide series this weekend? Will it cause a lot of problems or be a fairly easy thing for drivers and teams? Is this new car basically a COT car?

The chassis is essentially the same as the Cup Series COT. That said, I think there will be a bit of a learning curve for everyone, with the advantage toward the Cup regulars. There has, of course, been testing done, but no one has a ton of seat time in these new cars. It will be interesting to see them out on track this weekend – I know I’m excited. – Journo

7. From Neon:

Over the last couple of years, TNI has painted a pretty detailed and (albeit anonymous) interesting picture of the professional life of TC (tire changer) w/ just a glimpse of an off-track personal portrait. However, I can’t quite paint a mental picture of the life of Journo (the Journalist) and just what your version of a 20 lug stop looks like. Can you share “and” remain anonymous?

Unfortunately, I can’t really divulge too much about my daily tasks without revealing too much about who I am, or what my role is. That said, I did write a whole series of posts on the NASCAR life a couple of years ago. You may or may not have seen those. I’ll try to think of some not-so-revealing experience posts I can get up in the not too distant future. I’m on it, I swear. – Journo

8. From Tony:

I just read where yet another guy from the Sprint series is suspended for drug use. At this rate there are going to be quite a few jobs opening up,soon! Does anyone think that the use of recreational drug usage is as wide spread as it now looks? It seems that there is about one guy each week that is found. How many guys have been suspended since the drug testing started? Thoughts?

I don’t think this is as big a problem as it might appear.  With some quick research I counted 19 guys that have been suspended since the start of last season, and the beginning of NASCAR’s stronger drug policy.  The breakdown is like this: four Cup guys, two (ex)drivers, four Nationwide guys, and nine Truck guys.  Only three of those 19 came from major teams.  Many of those busted are temporary employees for part time teams, which is what you would expect.  The bigger teams are able to weed out some of the problems because they have their own drug policies; smaller teams don’t.  So out of the probably 1,500 – 2,000 people who come to the track each weekend to work, 19 failures is pretty low.  We are talking about somewhere around 1%. – T.C.

9. From Richard in NC:

In a pit stop, would there be a penalty if a car runs over an air hose, but does not leave the pit box? If so, what would the penalty be? Thank you.

If the car runs over a hose entering the box, but the crew fixes the situation, the team won’t be penalized.  You usually only see a team penalized when the car runs over an air hose on exit.  The rule for this in the rule book would allow the official to penalize for either situation, but the latter is the most common.  And all the book says for a penalty is that the driver has to return to their pit stall for inspection.  It’s not necessarily one lap or tail end, etc. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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It’s the first off week of the year for NASCAR.  None of the top three series are in action this weekend, but TNI keeps trucking along with another Ask The Insiders Wednesday.  If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Ric:

It’s been said that the haulers carry enough spare parts to build another car. How close is that statement?

Pretty darn close.  Haulers carry everything from spare engines and transmissions, to sheet metal and nuts and bolts.  And if a part isn’t on the hauler, it could probably be robbed off the backup car. – T.C.

2. From Kevin:

Hey TNI, What are your feelings on the spoiler and the fairness of the mid season change. Do you think teams like RCR are tickled to have it considering they have FINALLY found speed with the winged car. Now to have to go backward essentially and retool your whole fleet of cars, that’s not totally reasonable IMO. Now RCR and other teams will have essentially wasted all that work this offseason and now have to start over.

I think the answer to your question is determinant on whether the spoiler has a big effect on set-ups and the like. We really don’t know what will happen with the change, other than the little bit of testing teams have done. I doubt RCR is thrilled by this move; and it certainly stinks if you’re a team with little or no funding. That said, in my opinion, it will change things, but I don’t think it will change things substantially, so teams like RCR will probably be OK. – Journo

3. From Kenny:

I’m now reading a terrific book, “The Physics of NASCAR.” Reading that the wheels are “toed-in” or “toed-out” makes me wonder, does this alignment (and camber) make your job harder? On a normal consumer car, the four tires are set pointing straight up and down and are set parallel to the centerline of the car.

The toe isn’t usually an issue.  Camber does affect the front tire changer and front tire carrier.  The right front doesn’t cause any problems, but the left front does.  Changers have to get low to see all the lugs, and pretty much angle their pit gun to hit the lugnuts square.  The tire carrier must also make an adjustment, so as to get the wheel on the studs squarely. – T.C.

4. From Mike:

I was wondering if you could talk about the orange/white tape or paint that’s on the sides of the Goodyear tires after a pit stop? My guess is that it has something to do with checking the wear pattern…

I wrote a post back in 2008 explaining this exact topic.  Find it here. – T.C.

5. From Scott:

Hey Guys, All this talk about ’start and park’ teams got me wondering about racing in general and more specially about cars that are not on the lead lap. I’m wondering how you, the garage, NASCAR, etc would feel about pulling cars off the track that couldn’t mathematically win the race. For example, if a car has an early problem and hits the garage. They do amazing work and repair the vehicle but end up 50 laps down. So when the lap count hits so that there are only 49 laps left that car would have to leave the track. This would lessen the number of cars on the track near the end and potentially decrease yellows or other collision concerns. Thoughts? As always, thanks for the great read! Great job guys!

I think it’s an interesting idea, the problem is, it doesn’t let guys improve their position if they’re able to continue running. Say you’re in 40th 50 laps down and the five cars in front of you are out. Shouldn’t you be able to make up those spots if you’re able? At the point when you can’t win a race, it’s about points and money. If you’re prevented from improving from going back out on track you won’t be able to do that. Plus what if the race goes longer than the prescribed number of laps (through restarts)? Lessening the number of cars won’t necessarily lessen the number of cautions. Toward the end of the race a lot of wrecks occur with lead lap teams. – Journo

6. From Barb:

Why does it appear that most of the Cup drivers are afraid to tangle with Jimmie Johnson on the racetrack? They all seem leery of getting into him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone pull a bump and run on Jimmie during a race. I know why Jeff Gordon doesn’t, (part team owner), but why the others? He needs to be challenged more often.

I think it’s a matter of perception. I can say it’s not something I’ve noticed and after thinking about it do we really see drivers get into other drivers very often? It happens, but I don’t think Jimmie receives special treatment over anyone else. – Journo

7. From Marcus:

I’ve noticed that when a crew member or shop member or driver is penalized for drug use it always says actions detrimental to stock car racing. What does this mean?

It means whatever you want it to mean. At least that’s how NASCAR uses it. Anything that can be construed as damaging to stock car racing can fall into that category. That includes crew members who fail drug tests. – Journo

8. From Lee:

I live in Central Arkansas and noticed about a dozen haulers heading east on I40 om Monday (3/1) afternoon.  Obviously, they were coming from Las Vegas.  My question is..do the teams have more than one hauler?  Were the ones I saw heading back to the shop, and they already have a new one heading to Atlanta for the race this weekend?  It seems that it would be hard to get from Las Vegas to Charlotte, unload the car/s from the previous race, load the new cars up and make it to Atlanta for practices.

It takes approximately 36 hours driving time to get from Las Vegas to Charlotte.  For west coast trips, most teams run with two truck drivers, that way the truck never stops.  So assuming the race is over on Sunday evening, the trucks could be back in Charlotte sometime on Tuesday.  Atlanta is only a four hour drive, and Cup teams didn’t park until Thursday.  That leaves about a day and a half to restock and reload the haulers.  The only time extra haulers are used, is to shuttle cars out west to the actual race haulers.  This happens for back to back west coast races, like California-Vegas. – T.C.

9. From Ross:

Wondering your take on this: I was watching Idol last week and they’re running a spot with Carl Edwards talking about Ford. Not only is he not in a race suit but there aren’t even graphics identifying who he is. Now I can see why Ford’s ad people don’t want Edwards wearing a suit with Aflac plastered all over it but is it possible that Carl Edwards is actually recognizable to the average American Idol viewer? If that’s the case, then NASCAR really has come a long way.

I haven’t seen the commercial, but obviously Ford thinks he’s recognizable enough. I’m not sure I’d agree. I can’t say what Carl’s Q-score is, but I would imagine it’s not high. You’d think they would have at least had him in a firesuit, but maybe we’re further along than I thought we were. – Journo

10. From Alex:

2010 mid season changes to the cup cars: spoiler , nose and what else. I have been out of touch for a bit . Never liked the ” WING” or the splitter. What are the proposed changes for 2010 in a nutshell?

The only proposed change right now, is that the wing is being replaced with a spoiler, most likely at Martinsville in a few weeks.  NASCAR is also making a small change to the rear quarter panels on the car to help with the new aerodynamics.  The noses and splitters will remain unchanged. – T.C.

11. From Savannah:

Hi Guys, Since Brad Keselowski has entered the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, it seems that he has made more enemies than friends. What are the thoughts of the drivers and crew members of Brad? Also, what are your opinions? I found it interesting that Carl Edwards took the action that he did in today’s Atlanta race. Brad definitely needs to learn not to be as aggressive as he has been in some of the past races. Will the Edwards/ Keselowski feud become one for the record books over the next year? Thanks for answering all of the questions. Have a great week off!

There are definitely some veteran drivers who won’t be joining the BK fan club any time soon (see Edwards and Denny Hamlin).  While I can’t speak for everyone, I think most see him for what he is.  He is a very aggressive, young driver who is looking to make a name for himself and be successful.  And en route to being successful, it would appear as though he doesn’t care who he runs over to get there.  But what I hope he is learning, is that he can’t get where he wants without at least some respect from his competitors.  I appreciate his aggression and know he has talent, but he still has some learning to do.  Something tells me that Brad and Carl will steer clear of each other from now on as well. – T.C.

12. From Jeanette:

Journo- I’ve noticed here and there that some of the photographers on pit road and in the garage wear their vests inside out. Is there a reason for this (like some inside joke) or do they just not pay attention when they put them on. Also – what are the numbers for?

If it is I’m not privy to it. I would imagine it’s guys (and gals) not noticing and throwing the vest on. The numbers are there to identify the photographers. – Journo

13. From Marc:

Do extra laps beyond the scheduled distance in green-white-checker finishes, including the yellow-flag laps count for all purposes in races? With the current rule, there can be as many as four extra green-flag laps in addition to as many yellow-flag laps as needed to clear the track. If they count for all purposes, this could change the winner of the bonus for the most laps led and could allow a car that is, for example, 25 laps down to finish ahead of a car that fell out with 20 laps scheduled to go, right?

Yeah, pretty much.  If a race goes beyond it’s scheduled distance, the number of total laps run is counted just like if the race had gone the prescribed amount of laps.  Now you know why, in many cases, teams work so hard to get their car back on the track after a crash.  You never know what might happen. – T.C.

14. From Rob:

Question about pit officials. What are the two officials in white jumpsuits looking at when you are doing your pit stop work? Why are there 2 of them per car? How mant total on pit road? Who pays them? How much do they make? Do you have any good stories about them and things they may have done or not done?

There is one official assigned to each pit.  Often times you will see two, because if they are available to do so, they will help each other out.  They are watching to make sure we don’t jump from the wall too early, that the car is in the stall correctly, that fueling is done within the rules, and that all the lugnuts are installed, among other things.  They are paid by NASCAR, and probably make a reasonable living.  And there isn’t enough room in this post to recount those stories. – T.C.

15. From Lost, Just Lost:

Well NASCAR has had their say. I found it interesting. Seems to me that the message was more for Brad than Carl. Carl got a three race probation, what ever that is. Brad got knocked out of a sixth place finish. Am I missing something or was NASCAR sending a bigger message to Brad than to Carl?

Without being a party to NASCAR’s conversations over the last couple of days it’s hard to say. I know there has been some buzz that that might have been NASCAR’s intention, but I think more than anything they’re working off their recent precedent. Consider the Denny Hamlin/Brad Keselowski and Juan Montoya/Tony Stewart incidents at the end of last season as examples of how NASCAR has recently reacted to payback. The punishments haven’t been severe and I think if Brad hadn’t gotten airborne, we probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation. – Journo

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!