Ernie II is the best car never to take the green flag

Sporting News, The, April 2, 2001 by Lee Spencer

Passing grades?

Want to know if your favorite driver passed or failed in Sunday's race? Our team of correspondents hand out grades every Monday. Because it's auto racing, you might expect them to grade on a curve, but they're pretty tough. Go to sportingnews.com/nascar to see who gets high marks and who needs to stay after class.

DOWN THE ROAD

Race: Harrah's 500, No. 7 of 36.

When: 1 p.m. (Eastern) Sunday, Fox.

Where: Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Fort Worth, Texas.

Last year's winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Three to watch: Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton.

Key to winning: "It's a track that requires good motors--you need a lot of power. I guess I have a good feel for what the car needs as far as its attitude into and off the corners. Tony (Eury) Jr. and I really click here." --Dale Earnhardt Jr.

See a different game: Texas is basically a one-groove track. As the race goes on, the track gets tighter and the groove moves up. Finding the best line late is the key to going fast.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tale of the tires

We told you before the Daytona 500 that one of the biggest stories this season would be the new tires. We're not patting ourselves on the back here--OK, maybe we are--but, boy, were we right.

The teams capable of adjusting quickly to the tires, we said, would rise to the top. The teams that struggled with tires ... well, all you have to do is look at the Winston Cup points standings.

From Rusty Wallace to Ward Burton to Bobby Labonte, the talk about on-track performance centers on tires. Wallace says it is the biggest reason many top teams are struggling; it might take until the season's second half before they figure it out.

This season, Goodyear reduced the number of tire compounds it offers, trying to make the same tire work at more than one track. It was a money-saving move and one that figured to make competition more equal. The tires also are harder, meaning they should hold up better on long runs.

That all sounds like a good deal, so just what are the problems with tires? They're all round, and every car has four, right?

"The new tire takes away a lot of feeling that the driver gets back through the steering wheel," says Jimmy Makar, crew chief for Bobby Labonte. "One of Bobby's strong points is he has been able to really feel the car and know exactly what it's doing. Now with the harder tire, the tire is sliding a lot more, and you just don't get the feedback.

"This tire doesn't like to be driven hard. You can't overdrive the tire--try to force the car to do things it doesn't want to do. It won't react. The guys who drove that style are probably having a lot of trouble changing their driving styles to be smoother, less abrupt with the steering wheel and less hard on the gas.

"It's as much of a problem as trying to get the chassis to be right as it is to get the drivers to drive the tire right."

Ford car owner Jack Roush thinks teams will embrace the concept of fewer compounds when they become more comfortable with the tires. First of all, he says, it gives the drivers fewer tires to remember after they make the initial adjustment.