Hey, here's one idea about how to fix this NASCAR 'gas mileage madness'

  NASCAR drivers and crew chiefs say Goodyear's tires this season are almost 'too good,' because they don't wear out and they don't give up speed over a fuel run (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   Here's the deal:
   Goodyear's tires this season have been so doggone good that, with rare exceptions, like Atlanta Motor Speedway, changing to fresher tires during a race doesn't really make a car any faster.
   Hence the only reason to make a pit stop this season is to refuel.
   Hence teams are working feverishly on how to stretch gas mileage.
   Drivers have to play the game – by doing everything from just switching off the engine completely at times, to clutching the engine, anything to save fuel. But they don't really seem to like it:
   -- Regan Smith: "I don't like the fuel mileage races, and it seems like we've had too many of them this season."
   -- Matt Kenseth: "It is really frustrating to be a driver, and they drop the green on the last run of the day, when you are supposed to put on a show for the fans, and you have to run half-throttle, and can't floor it or you will run out of gas. It is pretty aggravating to do all the work…but none of it makes a difference.
   "It is not a great definition of racing.
    "There were so many races this year that have been like that already, where the guy running half-throttle, or pitting off sequence or whatever, has won. I wish they could figure out how to fix it because it is not a lot of fun.
    "But how are you going to fix it?"
   
   

     And Goodyear's Stu Grant responds..... (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

    Well, here's one possible solution: for Goodyear and NASCAR to adopt the F1 rule that gives teams the option of two different types of race tires, one set hard, one set softer. Give each team a choice…
    Bob Osborne, crew chief for championship contender Carl Edwards:
    "It would be interesting to have the option. It would make it very interesting, for sure.
   "If they regulated it, as they do in Formula 1, where you have to run both sets at some point in the race…
   "The drawback is we (in NASCAR) put a lot more sets of tires on our cars. (NASCAR races are longer, cars more demanding on the tires.) We look more at the durability issue; we have to have the durability, for the racing to be safe.
   "So it would be very difficult to do; a lot of things would have to be worked out. The owners would come out against it for sure, if it were more expensive."
   F1 teams do not stop for fuel, only tires. Each race is from 90 minutes to two hours.
   But F1 needs only a few types of tires for the entire 17-race season, where NASCAR has numerous types of tires for the 22 various tracks in its 38-race season.
   Car owner Jack Roush: "Tire racing is interesting. We had that when we had Hoosier in here a few years ago; that was a disaster.
   "If you had to increase costs, based on needing more inventory, that would be bad.
   "But if you organized it so there was a limitation on the tires….
   "And if you, say, had the tire we're using today, and then a harder tire (as option two), it would be all right with me."
   Fellow team owner J. D. Gibbs, however, isn't enthusiastic, particularly if it would increase costs:
   "NASCAR's point right now is 'Here's what you've got. Make the best of it. It's equal for everybody.'"
   Gibbs agrees too many gas mileage finishes "drives everyone crazy. But that's just part of the deal."
  

  

   
NASCAR's 38 Sprint Cup events each season requires Goodyear to make a heck of a lot of tires (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   "You still have to have a tire that's good for a full fuel run, because you don't want to put a car out on tires not equivalent to the gas range," Goodyear engineer Rick Heinrich says.
   "So you would still end up in the same place."
   Pat Tryson, the veteran crew chief, takes something of a contrarian view: Yes, every team in every race makes the same pit road decisions every Sunday, the cars are all virtually identical, passing isn't easy, track position is critical, and so now is gas mileage.
   "So instead of 'crutching' the problem, why not fix the problem?" Tryson asks. "It wasn't like this with the 'old' car, was it?
   "So that's how you fix it – put all this safety stuff in the 'old' car.
   "But they (NASCAR) wanted to control things….they wanted 'IROC' (identical cars)….and they got IROC.
   "Yes, two tire options would work. But there would have to be enough speed-gain in the softer tire to make it work.
  "And you could police by saying each team gets five sets of soft ones and five sets of hard ones and 'You can use 'em whichever way you want to.'
  "It would change up the race strategy.
   "But the 'soft' tires would have to have enough extra grip to where you could pass a guy. Right now you can be two-tenths (of a second) quicker than somebody, catch 'em and still not be able to pass 'em.
  

  

  
Crew chiefs (L-R) Bob Osborne and Pat Tryson: both say having a tire 'option' would be 'intriguing' (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   "Atlanta is the perfect track: the tires wear, and there are three racing grooves, so if you can't get by someone on the high side, you can try him on the low side.
   "But this track here has always been one groove. I really thought Bruton (Smith, the track owner) would have fixed it by now, I really did. Put some banking in it, and make it more like Richmond.
   "Look, in today's race, why change left-sides but maybe once?"
   Some suggest a bigger fuel cell as possibly part of the solution. NASCAR had team owners switch to smaller 17-gallon fuel cells a few years ago, to add more pit stops to the game. But Tryson says switching back to the larger 22-gallon fuel cells might indeed be a solution – with these current tires. 
  
  And Goodyear's Stu Grant, the racing director?
    Goodyear could offer NASCAR teams the option of 'soft' tires or 'hard' tires.
   "We could," Grant says. "Obviously anything is possible.
   "But it would be a logistical and operational nightmare.
   "Formula 1 and Indy-car, which do that kind of thing, only run a few races a year compared to NASCAR; they've got fewer cars in the field, and they need fewer tires.
   "It would be way more difficult here, where we're dealing with 15 to 17 sets of tires (each weekend) for 43 cars.
   "Is it possible? Of course it's possible.
   "But it's just not practical. You'd need a second garage to handle all the tires and wheels."
    Still, the epidemic of gas mileage finishes is certainly something Grant is watching:
   "Actually the gas mileage thing is probably about the same now as it was years ago….but with one exception – that the new asphalt going down on these race tracks is so much better than the old asphalt. It is much 'tighter.' For example, when was the last time you saw a 'repave' break up and tear apart? You don't see that anymore, do you, because they are very, very good at what they do.
   "The new asphalt is much more compact, and consequently you get no tire wear.
   "You see it everywhere: Talladega, Daytona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Darlington….
   "Darlington is a big example of this – On the old asphalt you would see two to three seconds (a lap) of tire fall-off (in speed, over a fuel run). Now you only see a fall-off of two or three-tenths.
   "And Phoenix (just repaved, for the Nov. 13th race) will be just the same way – no tire wear at all. Thus, you won't see any fall-off in lap times."
   Which is precisely why Jimmie Johnson predicts another gas mileage race at Phoenix this season.
 

  

    Whenever a driver blows a tire, Goodyear engineers examine it very, very carefully. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)