So who's bright idea

was it to change right-side tires only after flat-spotting the left front entering the pits? The crew chief or the driver/crew chief?

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Permalink Reply by TOG on October 12, 2008 at 9:45am

Robby knew he flatspotted the tire.He accepted the blame over the radio.

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Permalink Reply by john mcglasson on October 12, 2008 at 9:47am

but what was to be gained by trying to go back out with a tire he knew was going to blow? Even if he was going to go around and com back in it makes no sense, he'd lose more time that way.

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Permalink Reply by Walt Pendleton on October 12, 2008 at 10:01am

If your in a rush, you make mistakes. Its all part of the game. THe crew chief should be calling the shots. When your driving you get too excited.

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Permalink Reply by john mcglasson on October 12, 2008 at 10:45am

which seems like RG's biggest problem, he doesn't seem to 1) have a crew chief he respects, or 2) be able to accept that you can't crew chief from the driver's seat. I was just wondering if anyone knows who actually made the call? I don't have access to the race scanner chatter.

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Permalink Reply by john mcglasson on October 12, 2008 at 11:07am

now that I think of it, it did seem like pulling out was something the crew wasn't ready for------

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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on October 12, 2008 at 11:39am

The scanner told the story. RG pitted. The gun jammed. Kirk says make it two. Rob says I locked up the tire real bad I need four. Then Kirk realizes says ok change all four but Rob left having not heard Kirk say do the four. While Rob is rolling back on the track Kirk says "Rob we need to bring you back in to do the left we will be ok". 1/2 lap later on the back stretch the tire blew. This took out the left front outer tie rod end and the fender. The most time was lost fixing that. It was a panic on all parties. Rob's primary complaint was they needed an extra air gun on the wall incase this happens. Rob later commented that a second seems like an eternity on pit road. All in all I say his luck is changing. Earlier this year he would have never lead a lap and the tire blowing would have put him in the wall. We still finished 30th (really 29th in points when you count the 5pts for the lap lead). He is 70 something out of 36 and commented on the cool down lap that the car is great and fixable and the have a chance to "win" (his words) at Atlanta or Texas.

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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on October 12, 2008 at 11:46am

Another comment. I was very impressed with some of the scanner chatter. They were talking in depth on tire matching. Kirk seems to be very skilled and matching up the tires to make the car loose or tight etc.. I never heard that from Walt, Frank, Peter, Gene etc. They were making adjustments to the car based what they though a set of tires would do. Before you would hear, that a set of tires sucked the chief would respond ok. Last night Kirk would chime back well the tires were within 1 lbs of each other and the set we just put on should be tighter etc.... THis COT is on the Razor's edge. Things like matching tires is very important. Much more then going 15 rounds down on the wedge bolt!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sweeney on October 12, 2008 at 11:44am

I was so dissapointed with the outcome. What a shame.

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Permalink Reply by TobaccoRoad on October 12, 2008 at 11:53am

Two cars were into the wall in the 5 laps before Robby pitted, #15 and #83. In the past NASCAR (David Hoots) had called for cautions for less, example Robby scraping the wall in May in the 600. A yellow there changes the whole night. Oh well, car was fast and the communication was good. It was easy to find Robby when looking around the track, just look up close to the wall in the corners.

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Permalink Reply by Beagle7 on October 12, 2008 at 1:33pm

those were during the green flag cycle though...right? Nascar is always very hesitant to throw a yellow during agreen flag pit cycle unless absolutely necessary..as it really effs up the race..

but there is something to be said for a caution is a caution is a caution

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Permalink Reply by TobaccoRoad on October 12, 2008 at 3:01pm

Yes, #24 was on pit road when #15 hit the wall. Paul's bumper cover was flapping in the wind, he went as far as he could before he when to the pits for the black flag. #83 hit the wall going into turn 3, rather hard.

The car was fast on thelong runs, he would come the high line out of turn 2 and just reel cars in on the backstretch. Fun to watch. As far as the lug wretch, live and learn. They will have a extra one from now on. Overall a positive night, from what I heard on the scanner the team is working together well now. Kirk is composed and Robby is giving quality info on the car.