Saturday Notebook from Indy

– The tire situation at Indy continues to develop. Goodyear is urging NASCAR to have a competition caution at lap 15 to address tire wear issues. In addition, each team will have up to 10 sets of tires available to them tomorrow. Towards the end of practice, teams were reporting that they were up to 10 – 12 laps on a set of tires before the cords start to show. A thunderstorm — which is a distinct possibility in the hot, humid Hoosier summer weather — would wash away all the rubber currently ground in the track, which would mean that the tires might only last 4-5 laps at the start of tomorrow's race.

– Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's VP of Competition, issued the following press release: "We've got enough tires for Sunday's race and there will be 10 sets per team. Not everyone is going to use all of their tires in the last practice session. There may be some teams that keep an extra set behind. There is only one NASCAR series here this weekend, and you don't get a chance to put enough rubber on the track. If you make a tire that lasts during the practices, when you get into the race then they have issues with the handling. It's always a challenge here. It's a "on-off" tire that Goodyear builds for this place. The track is very abrasive because we don't run on it very often. Goodyear's doing the best they can. It's a situation we do see probably every time we come here."

– In fairness to Goodyear, these are 3,500 pound cars, running an average of 175 mph, making tight corners at Indy on an abrasive surface. These cars have less downforce than the previous cars, and NASCAR has severely limited the camber that the cars can run. However, Firestone has virtually no problems here in May, or at most IRL races. The track is normally said to be abrasive because of the diamond grinding that was done years ago to make it pool table smooth, and one would think that all of the laps in May would've made it less abrasive if that was indeed the answer. NASCAR is obviously loathe to suggest that its cars are not the best suited to run Indy, or that Goodyear can't come up with a good solution.

– Groovy. If you see a NASCAR vehicle with grooved competition tires (kinda like the F1 grooved tires), they're the "setup" tires. Goodyear requires all tires to be returned at the end of the purchase term — for instance, all Friday's tires had to be returned on Friday afternoon to Goodyear, where they were destroyed with a hole saw on the end of a cordless drill, even if the tires were never used. If a team buys 18 sets of tires for this weekend, they all must be returned by Sunday evening after the race — if they are not returned, Goodyear has been known to call the FBI to find the lost tires. In order for the teams to have tires to move the cars during non-competition periods, these grooved "setup" tires are issued, with the thought that they are worthless for any other purpose.

– Engines take a beating at Indy. Robby Gordon's motor took a fiery dump during practice, and it was reported that Carl Edwards' car would be getting a new engine as well.

– Once again, Jimmie Johnson was fastest in practice. Second fastest was Jeff Gordon, followed by Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, and Ryan Newman.

– Surprising in is lack of speed is Tony Stewart, who was 27th fasted in Happy Hour, 30th fastest in the previous practice, and 34th fastest in yesterday's practice. Stewart qualified 14th. One can imagine that Toyota might not want Tony to have any momentum as he transitions to owning a Chevy team, or that mandated camber limitations have affected Tony's driving style. Perhaps the pressure of the big sponsorship press conference has taken its toll as well. One doubts, at any rate, that Tony has forgotten how to get around this place. Tim Wohlford reporting from Indy