BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Concord, N.C. — Goodyear officials, who insist that they were not told about the recent grinding of Martinsville Speedway’s turns are bracing for a projected high demand for tires in the 500-lap event.

Phil Holmer, Goodyear’s point man, called local distributor asking that every tire in the warehouse with Martinsville specifications be shipped to the track for next week’s event.

Under normal circumstances Holmer says that Goodyear would bring 1,000 sets of left side tires and 1,000 sets of right side tires to Martinsville. But for next week’s event, on the surface which has no rubber worn into the newly reworked surface, Goodyear will bring 1,465 sets of lefts and 1,465 sets of rights for the event.

NEW RULE
This week’s tragic death of Eric Martin in the companion Automobile Racing Club of America event has led to a change in spotting practices for NASCAR’s top-three touring series. Now spotters will be required to take their post for all practice sessions of Winston Cup, Busch Grand National and the CraftsmanTruck Series. If there is no spotter in the designated spotter stand the car will not be allowed on the track.

The BGN drivers and crew chiefs were told of the new rule during the pre-race drivers meeting, with a similar message on the table for tomorrow’s WC and NCTS drivers’ meetings.

The roof of Lowe’s Motor Speedway had a full compliment of spotters for today’s WC practice sessions, despite the rule not officially being presented to the teams, yet.

FAST MAN
Ryan Newman was fast in the first practice session of the day for the UAW-GM 500 Winston Cup race. The good times rolled to a stop when Newman looped his Ford and backed into the wall prior to the session’s completion.

"I just got loose,” said Newman of the incident that put him in a backup car. “I didn't hit anything or do anything, I just got loose and couldn't save it. It's unfortunate, but, hopefully, we can learn something and go on and be better in the race."

Unfortunately the cuffed car means that Newman will start at the back of the field on Sunday.

Fellow Ford pilot Ricky Craven asserted himself as the fastest when he guided his Tide Ford to the top of the speed charts in the final Happy Hour session of the day. Craven rocketed to the top of the chart with a 177.9 mph lap.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joe Nemechek, Rusty Wallace and Jimmie Johnson filled the balance of the Top-5 spots of the session.

"The car is running really well and I'm pretty excited because some of things that we did the car responded to and it's the same Tide Ford we qualified and finished third with in the Coca-Cola 600 in the spring,” said Craven after the session. “So we were really optimistic coming here under these conditions -- bringing the same car and after running well the last four races, our expectations are high."

Championship contender Mark Martin practices 11th fast in the final session. That spot is nothing about which to get overly alarmed as the Charlotte race will often go to the team that can outthink the opposition. While Martin tends to downplay his abilities behind the wheel he’s one of the best at adjusting a chassis during an event.

Point leader, Tony Stewart, ran ninth fast in the session.