BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Concord, N.C. — The Coca-Cola 600 is indeed the motor builders biggest challenge of the year. Making matters more tenuous is NASCAR’s single engine rule, in its second year.

This is yet another area of auto racing ying and yang, which leads to a mini war of the wills as engine builders look wearily into the engine compartments of their cars here at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, meanwhile, drivers look for laps in which to get their cars dialed.

“You want to give the crew chiefs all the laps that are needed to get their cars set up,” said one of the better engine builders of the game, Robert Yates. “We don’t have anything in our library or history for that, except from last year’s 600. It seems like we accumulate 800 or 900 miles on them for this race.”

Yates is close regarding his mileage estimates as there’s one Ford that, if all laps are completed tomorrow night, will put in excess of 735 miles on its engine. That accomplishment will come in Jeff Burton’s Ford as through Saturday’s practice session, including qualifying, the No. 99 car has covered 138 miles. Add in tomorrow night’s 600 miles and Burton will put a dizzying amount of miles on a full race engine, running RPM’s that few believed possible for a 358 cubic inch pushrod engine.

It’s, as Yates points out, “Our piston speeds run up and down the [cylinder] walls faster than that little red cart that runs around with the Shell sticker on it,” referring to Michael Schumacher’s Formula One Ferrari.

The other extreme of the mileage runs came under the foot of Elliott Sadler, who’s run just 57.5 miles since Thursday. Sadler went so far as to keep his M&M’s Ford parked during today’s second 45-minute practice session.

The balance of the Ford Tauruses ran about 100 miles on their engines readying them for Sunday’s race.

FUTURE POWER
Garage sources told TFR today that NASCAR is advising the teams and the manufacturers, to start thinking about next generation motors and that they should get concepts ready for discussion sometime in the future.

The message was delivered that NASCAR is looking to go to a “small box” (tight tolerance) motor, but no specifics as to what the sanctioning body might be seeking were advanced during the initial conversations.

Apparently everything is in play. Even displacement seems to a “work in progress,” according to one Detroit engine designer.

This engine builder went on to suggest that now might be the time to tone down the motor’s capability. But that’s a discussion that will spark debate as some engine men, including as Yates, like a smaller cubic inch displacement configuration as an option/ Meanwhile, others believe a smaller carburetor, maybe fuel injection, is a better way to go.

These talks look to be very preliminary in nature, with the timing of any changes being a couple of years off, possibly to coincide with Toyota’s expected appearance in the Cup Series in 2007.

MARTINSVILLE HISTORY WRITTEN IN CONCRETE
New track owner of Martinsville Speedway, International Speedway Corp., has decided that Martinsville’s concrete corners would be redone at the same time that the front and back straights are repaved.

A question about the worthiness of Martinsville’s concrete came into question during the last Cup event when a large chunk of the track surface tore up, ending up in the nose of Jeff Gordon’s Chevy.

Track president Clay Campbell says that track surveys are being done to very accurate tolerances so that the repair can be mapped out very specifically. But most of the track that had asphalt would get a fresh coat and the concrete would be removed and replaced.

The big materials exception will come at the exits of Turns 2 and 4; and the current 50-foot concrete footprint will be extended by 100 feet to 150 feet. This change, according to Campbell, is being well received by the competitors because trying to get 850 horsepower hooked up on a concrete to asphalt transition can be problematic.

Interesting, concrete was put in the corners of Martinsville’s speedways after many years of losing the battle to keep asphalt in the corners because the cars would tear the pavement loose during a 500-lap event.