Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Race Report

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
No. 43 Cheerios Racing/Totino’s Dodge
July 27, 2008
2.5-mile Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway

RACE RESULTS:
1. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
2. Carl Edwards, Ford
3. Denny Hamlin, Toyota
4. Elliot Sadler, Dodge
5. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
16. Bobby Labonte, Cheerios Racing/Totino’s Dodge
27. Terry Labonte, No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge

Jimmie Johnson picked up his second Allstate 400 at the Brickyard victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Johnson held off Carl Edwards in a race that will not soon be forgotten by competitors and fans alike.

Throughout the weekend, excessive tire wear had been the hot-button topic on the minds of everyone in the garage area. Most teams could only run 8-10 green flag laps before the right side tires began to wear to the point of failure. Several factors are believed to have contributed to this, including the debut of the new chassis on the 99-year-old racetrack and a diamond-grinding process, similar to the “levigation” that took place at Lowe’s (N.C.) Motor Speedway a few years ago, that gives the racing surface maximum grip.

The result was a race where “competition” cautions were scheduled roughly 10 laps apart so that teams could asses their tire wear. Only six “competition” cautions were used because normal cautions for accidents, or blown motors, occurred inside this 10 lap window.

Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Cheerios Racing/Totino’s Dodge team came home in the 16th position in Sunday’s race. B. Labonte, the 2000 winner of this race, started from the 27th position. His No. 43 Dodge saw the most tire wear on the right rear tire, meaning the car was ‘loose.’ Early in the event, crew chief Jeff Meendering decided to alternate between two- and four-tire stops to keep the valuable track position game in their favor. However, on lap 97, B. Labonte felt his right front tire giving up and quickly pulled down pit road for service. Pit road was closed at this time, and he was caught for speeding upon entry, meaning he would restart at the end of the line of lead lap cars in 35th place. He did an outstanding job in driving his was up to his finishing position of 16th.

“It was a wild race out there, without a doubt,” said Labonte. “You had to pick when you wanted to race hard to pass someone and the rest of the time you just had to bide your time to save your tires. We knew this would be the case going in and NASCAR did a great job with what they had. My car was actually handling pretty good. It was just a little loose, but I was happy with the balance. My pit crew has to get a lot of credit today. This was the most consistently fast day we’ve had all year on pit road. They picked up a lot of positions for me.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to the Pocono Raceway this weekend for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. Friday’s qualifying session will be telecast on the Speed Channel. It will be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Channel 128.