NASCAR plans to adjust the gear ratios rule for Las Vegas next season to prevent the engine failures that plagued numerous Sprint Cup teams last weekend.

pic credit:  http://www.ciastockphoto.com/stock/stockimage.php?image_id=20090301em4044&event_id=255

"We're seeing 300 in the data we collect,'' Cup series director John Darby said. "All things staying the same -- the racetrack and the cars and the new tire -- we'll make a change in gear ratio.''

Roush Fenway Racing lost three engines on Sunday, equaling the number of engines it lost all of last season. Doug Yates, who oversees the Roush-Yates engine program, said the situation could have been avoided had there been a more conservative gear ratio that would have reduced rpms that were much higher than expected with the new left-side tires and improved horsepower.

"With all that stacked against us, we just weren't ready.'' Yates said.  "That particular race we were a lot above where we want these engines to be running.''

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Yates commended the governing body for such a quick response.

"They don't want us to, especially in these times, spend more money to make engines turn 10,000 rpms,'' he said. "That's not the intention of the gear rule.''

Story Credit:  http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=3950554

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A loose lug nut, not performance, killed Stewart in Vegas. Prior to the race, Smoke refused to talk about confidence. Afterward, he said it's growing.

story source:  http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/sprint/powerrankings?race=28

1 (same). Brendan Gaughan, 407 points. Las Vegas: 7th. Overcomes a wild day to get his second consecutive top 10, and a big 53 point lead.

2 (+3) Jason Leffler (-53). Las Vegas: 4th. Left Turn ties for his best finish since 2007.

3 (-1) Jason Keller (-64). Las Vegas: 25th. Car gets loose in turn 2, ending his day after a discussion with the inside wall.

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4 (+6) Michael McDowell (-81). Las Vegas: 6th. Avoids the weekly McDowell-B-Que and finishes with a NW career-best.

5 (unranked) Justin Allgier (-96). Las Vegas: 8th. Rookie driver has his best NW finish. Could he be the real Sliced Bread?

story source:  http://www.motorsportslounge.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/26145/

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"Not in any way related,'' Lee White said on Monday. "We're going to take 100 percent responsibility for maybe not having all of our ducks in a row with durability testing when we got to the racetrack to be ready for the decisions the teams put the engines through to get ready for qualifying.''

White said all seven teams supplied engines by TRD likely will go to Atlanta this week with the same new generation engine but with the conservative package -- a thicker lubricant and small mechanical change that determines how much oil stays around the camshaft -- that reduced horsepower by three to four at Vegas.

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Roush Fenway co-owner Jack Roush on Sunday speculated that the new tire Goodyear introduced led to blown engines by Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Carl Edwards.

"It's the same spec on the engine that we had all of last year. It wasn't something new or experimental. I had great confidence in it.'  I think we misjudged how fast this tire was going to be, and the engine turned more,'' he said.  "Consequently, we would have made sure we didn't have any issues because of extra revs.''

story credit: http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=3947190

Jamie McMurray was sick with the flu,  a hard of hearing, stuffy headed, eyeballs hurting sick little puppy.  He was a bit drugged.  Tough job the infield care center must have deciding just what cold and flu medicines to give out to drivers that may soon be driving 200 miles per hour while under their influence.  Could he stay alert for the full length of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race?

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Jamie McMurray, this is your wake up call.  Lap 66 of the 285-lap Shelby 427. 

Driving through turns 1 and 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McMurray's No. 26 Ford got clipped in the rear end by rookie Joey Logano.  The contact sent McMurray's rear-end heading towards the wall but thanks to some great moves, he kept the car off the wall and finished the rest of the race with a 9th-place finish.

See the video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmCh02eFl0

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"I didn't hold it wide open the whole time, but I just modulated the gas pedal and the steering wheel," said McMurray after the race. "I was really worried because I was a little groggy from having a cold and I didn't feel like I was as alert as what I needed to be and when that was over I thought, 'Pretty alert.'"

"Pretty alert" is definitely right.

story credit:  http://nascar.fanhouse.com/2009/03/01/jamie-mcmurray-las-vegas-drifting-star/