Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011
Dodge Keys For Success
Dodge Motorsports PR
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Ford 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
KEYS FOR SUCCESS: Ford 400
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011) – Each race weekend, selected Dodge Motorsports engineers, Penske Racing engineers and crew chiefs, drivers or engine specialists give their insight on the ‘Keys for Success’ for the upcoming race. This week, Howard Comstock, Dodge Motorsports engineering – provides the keys for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race.
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway (Race 36 of 36 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series)
Race: Ford 400 (267 laps / 400.5 miles)
Trivia Question: Dodge’s Kurt Busch has led 92 laps in 10 NSCS starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. How many laps did Busch lead when he won the 2004 NSCS driver’s championship at HMS? (Answer Below)
HOWARD COMSTOCK (Dodge Motorsports)
THROW THE BOOK OUT: I think first practice will be closer to the conditions we’ll see Sunday night. We won’t have that midday sun to contend with. Midday sun has a big effect on any track we race at, some worse than others. This place, it does have a big effect.
“For the last three years, we’ve seen ‘em change the start time of this race, so we don’t have a good book on how racing into the night is going to effect the track. We were originally going to practice last night, but rain canceled all of that. Now, the only practice we’re going to get before the race is during the daylight hours. That’s going to have a big effect on the team trying to figure out how this track is going to change as we race from a 3:15 start to more like a 7 o’clock finish. I think that’s going to be a big challenge for the crew chiefs and the engineers to conquer.”
RAIN AND CLEAN RACE TRACK: “Fortunately, here at Miami, we see that all the time. I think we’ve probably got a better book on that than we do on the daylight to nighttime change in conditions. It gets faster when it gets dark like many tracks do. Grip levels go up and all of that’s good, but everybody is going to get faster and you’ve got to be able to get faster than everybody else if you want to conquer this thing.”
TO BE FAST AT NIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP A LITTLE IN THE DAYTIME: “It’s the adjustments you’re going to have to make as the race progresses that are going to be important. If you’ve figured out what adjustments to make at what time and physically what time on the clock, I think you can be successful. But if you get a little bit behind, sometimes it’s hard to catch up. Sometimes, you overshoot and you end up with bad handling.”
Trivia Question Answer: Four. Busch earned the pole, led the first four laps and finished in fifth position. Busch won the 2004 NSCS championship by seven points over Jimmie Johnson.
