Allstate 400 at The Brickyard Qualifying Update

Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- 07/27/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Jul 26 2008 11:22pm

The Cup schedule at Indy this weekend called for four practice sessions - rather unusual, as most races have three practices and some just two.

Among those four sessions and qualifying a number of different story lines have emerged, but the biggest pre-race story of all can be summed up in one word: Tires.

Numerous drivers expressed concern Saturday afternoon that the track was not taking rubber as well as expected, and teams were wearing tires to the cords in as few as five laps. The excessive tire wear was also producing a fine powder dotted by small bits of rubber which was visible in large patches on the track, and threatens to clog parts of the car during the race.

Though tire concerns are fairly common here given the track's abrasive surface, the situation seems more acute this time around, prompting many drivers to complain to NASCAR Saturday afternoon. Goodyear brought a one-off tire to the Brickyard this weekend with a different compound than the one used last year.

As a result, the sanctioning body has agreed to give teams one extra set of tires for the race. There are also rumors of one or more competition cautions planned for the early part of the race to check tire conditions.

The first two practice sessions were held Friday with qualifying taking place Saturday morning. The third and fourth practices came Saturday afternoon.

If one name jumps out at you from those five separate times on the track, it would have to be Jimmie Johnson (+350). The two-time champ ran in the top 5 in all four practices, leading two of them, and snagged the pole with a 181.763 mile per hour, 49.515 second lap.

Lining up next to Johnson on the front row is Mark Martin (+1285), who asserted throughout the week that the No. 8 car has a good chance to win the race.

Rounding out the top 5 are Ryan Newman (+2850), Kasey Kahne (+850), and Jeff Gordon (+555).

The top 10 starting grid consists of three Chevys, four Dodges, and three Fords. The fastest qualifying Toyota driver is Tony Stewart (+1085) at 14th. Kyle Busch (+715), who led every single lap in Saturday's Nationwide race except the three laps when he pitted, starts 19th.

Starting in positions 6-10 are Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch (+3850), Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards (+1025), and Matt Kenseth (+1550).

The Roush-Fenway cars all looked stout in qualifying. Along with the three mentioned above (McMurray, Edwards and Kenseth), Greg Biffle (+1685) starts 12th and David Ragan (+6000), 16th.

Jimmie Johnson's Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon, four-time winner at the Brickyard, has also performed well so far this weekend. Gordon was 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and 2nd in practice times and qualified 5th.

The only other driver to run in the top 10 in all four practices and qualifying was Newman.

Starting spot is not as critical at Indy as is being able to roll through the center and pick up the throttle early, particularly off turns 2 and 4, effectively improving speed on the straightaways. 57% of the 14 Brickyard races have been won from a starting spot inside the top 10 and the remainder (43%) from outside the top 10.

The only starting spot to produce multiple winners has been P3, which has produced three winners; Ryan Newman starts there on Sunday. The deepest starting position for a race winner was 27th - Jeff Gordon won from that spot in 2001.

The go-or-go-home drivers to make the field for Sunday's race are Patrick Carpentier, Jason Leffler, Marcos Ambrose, A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Riggs, Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley, and Terry Labonte.

Drivers who failed to qualify are Bill Elliott, Johnny Sauter, Tony Raines, and Stanton Barrett.