The Nationwide Series took center stage on Saturday with a Music City Showdown that saw Joe Nemechek go for a wild ride, and ended with Joey Logano hoisting the Gibson guitar.  This week the “Valley of the Sun” plays host to NASCAR’s top two series.  But before they get it going under the lights, we’vegot another round of reader questions and answers.   If you don’t know what this post is, until further notice, we will be answering any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

(Just a quick sidenote, we missed a couple questions last week.  We apologize and will answer those first.)

1. From Amy:

Is it true that the tires are filled with nitrogen? What is the advantage to that (if they are)?

Yes, it is true tires are filled with Nitrogen.  Nitrogen is much drier (less moisture content) then regular air and is much less susceptible to changes in pressure due to temperature.  Over the course of a race run, tires will actually build pressure, and Nitrogen helps to minimize that. – T.C.

2. From Kim:

Sometimes on the in-car audio we hear the drivers reaming out their team (or owner!) for doing a lousy job. As a member of the pit crew, do you hear this and is it something you just take as part of the sport or does it affect the way you feel about your driver or how you perform the following week? And are the drivers ever confronted about these outbursts?

It is definitely something you will hear sometimes, but it comes down to not letting it affect your performance.  I understand that during the race, people will get emotional and sometimes things will be said.  But you just learn to hear it, take it for what it’s worth, and move on.  I’m a very competitive person myself, and since I understand the passion, I’m not going to let it affect my job or my opinion of someone.  If the outbursts cross over the border of being ridiculous, you can bet an owner or manager will step in. – T.C.

3. From Woogeroo:

Howdy folks. I enjoy reading the site. I am curious if it is possible to have 3 digit numbers on the cars? I’ve seen this in other forms of racing, mostly dirt track action or old, old racing photos. I am just curious, take care.

You know I am not sure if there is an actual written rule about this, I don’t have a rule book handy at the moment. I know there are instances throughout the history of the sport where guys have run three digit numbers; Tim Flock is an example. I do recall Darrell Waltrip running a Tim Flock tribute car about 10 years ago and he wanted to run the #300 and NASCAR stopped that. I can’t recall if that was a number issue or something else. Ultimately they really don’t need to run three digits because we are likely never going to have a situation where over 100 (or more if you can’t the 0, 00, 07 etc) cars are trying to make the race. – Journo

4. From Steve:

Not that I’m going to try this myself, but I am intrigued as to how someone like Jeremy Mayfield puts together an operation, in particular how they go about buying equipment from other teams (is it true that one can actually lease an engine?), what other types of arrangements need to be made (do they buy tires from Goodyear?), firesuits and the other gear that is used and how much it might take for someone to show up at track and try to qualify.  Thanks 

Luckily for Jeremy Mayfield and Tommy Baldwin, Bill Davis had just shut its doors and they were looking to unload a lot of cars and a lot of equipment. From what I have heard it was pretty much a free for all for the teams who went up there and bought stuff. There is always used equipment to be bought whether from another team or from one of the companies who actually deals in used race equipment. All of the major engine manufacturers ECR, Roush-Yates, Triad, Hendrick, they all lease their engines. What happens is the team is sent an engine from one of these distributors, they install it andthen the engine builder sends along an engine tuner who is the only one allowed to make changes to the motor. As far as tires go, they too are leased from Goodyear through a company called Champion Tire. Everything else can purchased from any number of different companies. All told, to get this together for a season it is going to cost you $1 million+, under certain circumstances you might be able to do it for cheaper, but you can certainly spend much more. – Journo

5. From Michael:

Is the heading banner from North Wilkesboro?

Yes it is. – Journo

6. From Sean:

I’ve been wondering about engines. I have this idea that they are all derived from 60s era motors. But that couldn’t be the case with Toyota. So my question is, is there any connection whatsoever with the engines used in NASCAR/ARCA andthe engines in the cars currently produced by the big 3/Toyota? If not, how many racing engines are produced in a year by each manufacturer? I can’t see it being more than a few thousand.

Race engines in today’s stock cars have very little in common with modern production engines.  The biggest difference being that race motors are still carburated and production engines are fuel injected.  Going forward, it will be an area of contention in terms of manufacturer support.  Many argue that since no technology is derived from NASCAR that can be used in street cars, it isn’t worthwhile for them to be involved.  I disagree.  The engines themselves are not built by the manufacturers.  Chevrolet engines are built by Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines, Hendrick Motorsports, and Pro Motor.  Dodge motors are built by Evernham and Penske.  All Ford racing engines are built by Roush Yates Racing Engines.  And Toyota engines are built by Toyota’s racing division, Toyota Racing Development. – T.C.

7. From Dave:

Leader of race has lapped everyone in the field.  He takes the white flag, but car doesn’t finish.  Does the race end when the 2nd place car crosses the finish line (one short of the race distance) or do they go one more lap?

It’s important to remember that only the leader has taken the white flag.  So if the leader doesn’t make it to the checkered, those who are still one lap down will continue racing.  They will race to the checkered for the win, but aren’t going “one more lap.”  They are actually running the scheduled distance because only the previous leader had run every lap. - T.C.

8. From Dan:

Nascar is always represented as an extremely close knit community.  It’s often suggested that because of the closeness, it’s impossible to keep secrets.  Yet the two of you have been posting anonymously for over a year now.    How anonymous are you within the community?  Do you think you’ve managed to keep your identities hidden or are they an open secret?

Very interesting question!  We both work very hard to ensure that we remain anonymous to not only our readers, but to the community as well.  So as far as I know, our identities remain unknown both inside AND outside NASCAR.  I guess if somebody knows who I am, they certainly haven’t let me know about it. – T.C.

9. From T:

WIth the lack of testing this year, why doesn’t EGR take the opportunity to run the #8 as a test team?  Both RCR and HMS have 4 full time teams, but it seems that EGR has a unique opportunity to leave the car on the track and visible to potential sponsors while helping to test…  especially with the news about trying to go to a common chassis.  I know it takes $$ but seems the possible improvement in  performance might be worth it.   Also, just thought, when teams put a charity on their cars as sponsor, i.e., Dale Earnhardt Foundation on the #01 last year, is that considered a charitable contribution?  Thanks!

Running the car as a test team would run them into the same situation they found themselves with Almirolain the car. Running a team week to week is a very expensive endeavor (much more so than just testing). Without backing, it can run you dry. I recall when Ganassi shut down the team last year Chip stood to lose something like $5 or $10 million if he kept the car on the track. While it is certainly better to keep it on the track to attract sponsors, that is not always feasible. I’m not sure about the charitable contribution question. Remember too these teams are still testing, they just aren’t testing on NASCAR sanctioned tracks.

As far as EGR’s “common chassis” it’s really just more of a single style chassis instead of running DEI and Ganassi chassis’ separately. It probably would help with performance, but again the money issue. – Journo

10. From Ron:

Whats up with the “nuts”?  I know about the studs being longer, but why all the trouble with the “glue”. Did NASCAR change the rules or are they using a diferent product?

Teams are using the same glue products as they’ve been using for some time now.  The glue can be a bit tricky at times to use, and must be handled a little differently depending on the weather conditions.  But I think many of the issues we’ve seen this year where lugnuts have fallen off studs doesn’t have anything to do with the glue.  It’s more about tire carriers and tire changers making mistakes that cause the lugnuts to fall off.  Often times tire changers will attempt to speed up their hands and it causes them to not hit lugnuts properly.  If you don’t hit them right, sometimes it will cause them to fall off.  Also, if a tire carrier doesn’t hang the tire square, the studs can push the lugs off the wheel.  Either way, in many cases when you hear a team talk about a lugnut “falling” off, it was knocked off. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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