Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray led the final of six test sessions held at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Monday and Tuesday. Has he adjusted his car so that it is yawed out like Carl Edwards' has been running his on those mile and a half tracks where he has been successful?
Crew chiefs and engineers took the yawn out of Sprint Cup testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) and put in the yaw. The hope is to close the gap between Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards and the rest of the field at 1.5-mile tracks such as LMS. Edwards' car, according to several crew chiefs and drivers, has been dominant in part because he has been able to handle a setup in which the rear housing is turned to the right, making it appear the car is going sideways down the straightaways. This gives Edwards more yaw -- movement in the back end -- that creates more downforce and allows him to make a better transition going into the corners.
"I think everyone sees it, even on TV," said Denny Hamlin, who is sixth in points. "It's very, very noticeable for us drivers. To those that don't really know the nuts and bolts of the cars, they don't really see it. We see it, the attitude of his car is a little bit more I guess 'yawed out' more than everyone else's. There are reasons for that. We as a team are starting to pinpoint that and really starting to show up."
Many teams used the two-day test at LMS to experiment with setups similar to what they believe Edwards has. NASCAR allows only a quarter-inch adjustment in the rear housing and monitors it with gauges. Tony Eury Jr., the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. can't go quite that far without making the car tough for his driver to handle.
Earnhardt crashed during Monday's practice sessions at Lowe's.
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon said that much yaw makes his car very tough to handle. Two-time champion Tony Stewart said everybody is trying to get a feel for it.
Now we know whats been bugging Jeff.
"It's a driver feel, there's no doubt," Eury said. "Some drivers like it. Some drivers don't."
Edwards apparently does. He's used it to win at 1.5-mile tracks at Las Vegas and Texas and the 2-mile California Speedway. He was headed for a win at 1.5-mile Atlanta before his engine expired late.
Dennis Setzer, usually the optimist, didn't mind having to wait to back up his Martinsville win of a month ago. It's nice to get back in the truck while you're hot, but with the series having its longest break of the season, it's OK to carry that "champion" label for a while.
"It's not so bad to have that layover if you just had a good race," the Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia driver said.
But there are layovers and then there are sabbaticals. Sprint Cup has three weeks off all season; the Craftsman Truck Series just had three weeks off in a row. Teams found opportunities to test, take time off, rinse and repeat. To say they were eager to get going with Saturday evening's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 was an understatement -- especially with two more off weeks looming after Kansas.
Setzer failed to finish Saturday night after an accident on lap 126 resulted in his being credited with a 25th place finish. However, the spot was good enough to maintain his 4th place position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings.
The Silver Dancers perform during a recent San Antonio Spurs home game. (D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty)
Thanks for looking. Now that I have your attention, here is the latest on the San Antonio Spurs.
Spurs Sitting Fourth in the West
"We are now almost in the fifth position," Manu Ginobili said. "Even if we don't care about the fifth position right now, we're not used to seeing ourselves there."
Ginobili is Back
Manu Ginobili scored 34 points in the Spurs' 110-96 win at Memphis over the Grizzlies. It was Ginobili's third consecutive game scoring 25 or more points, the longest such streak by a Spurs guard since 1986, when Alvin Robertson posted a three-game streak. "I think he's (Ginobili) definitely getting back to the form he had two years ago when he was an All-Star," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His body's feeling good, and he has a pretty good rhythm. Hopefully, that will just continue for him."
Ginobili, who averaged 25.5 points in the previous two games, was 10-of-15 from the field, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. His career-best six 3-pointers were among San Antonio's season-high 14 baskets from behind the arc.
Horry Performs for Mom
As soon as Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich sent Matt Bonner to the scorer's table early in the second quarter on Sunday, Robert Horry buried a turnaround jumper. He followed with consecutive 3-pointers. Horry said he didn't see Bonner waiting to check in for him. But he did know who was watching from the stands: His mother — along with his brother, his aunt and his brother's family — who drove from Alabama to see him play. "We're going to take her on our flights the rest of the season," Popovich said.
Horry had 18 points, a season high.
The Leather Ball.
"There's a lot of things I can do now that I couldn't do with the other ball," Horry said. "Just putting it on the floor, I'm a lot more comfortable. The ball bounces up better. I can grip it better. "To me, it's a huge, huge difference." Horry had been the team's most vocal critic of the league's microfiber basketball, saying, among other things, it was too light.
Including his 6-for-9 performance Sunday, Horry is 9 of 18, 4 of 8 from the 3-point line, in the four games since the league switched back to leather.
San Antonio Spurs' Jacque Vaughn (11) looks for an opening over Memphis Grizzlies' Damon Stoudamire during the second quarter of NBA basketball action Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007, in Memphis,
It's a Team Game
"They just play good team basketball," Grizzlies guard Chucky Atkins said. "They are a very unselfish team, a team you want to pattern yourself after."
Defense wins Championships
"As many possessions as there were in the game," Popovich said, "I thought that was a pretty good (defensive) effort on our part." "(We) held them to 24 points under what they've been averaging."
It was part of the Spurs' strategy to force Memphis to be more deliberate on offense. Grizzlies reserve point guard Atkins said San Antonio doubled him on breaks to get the ball out of his hands or used one of its frontline players to stop penetration. "(The Spurs) kind of throw you off your rhythm offensively. That's all you really need to do. It's not about blocking shots or getting steals. If they can throw you off your rhythm offensively, they can make you miss shots."
Three Losses in a Row Sucks
"We couldn't allow ourselves to get another loss," Ginobili said. "Three in a row is already too much."
Tony Parker Injured
Tony Parker missed his first game this season when he was unable to play Sunday because of a right hip strain. Parker worked out before the game, then told Spurs officials his hip was too tight. His teammates were surprised when they found out he wasn't playing. Parker said he hurt himself at some point during Friday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks, but doesn't think the injury is severe.
"I think I just did a bad move, like when I penetrate," Parker said. "It's a little bit like last year in the playoffs against Sacramento (when he was slowed by a hip strain). "It makes no sense to take a risk for one game. I'd be mad at myself if I did it worse and missed like five games." Parker thinks he'll be able to play Tuesday against the Portland Trailblazers — provided the Spurs want him to play.
Elson Still Out
Spurs officials don't expect Francisco Elson to return this week. Elson has missed the past six games after suffering a small tear in his right rotator cuff in the Dec. 26 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
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