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2001 Schedule and Results
Virginia 500 - Tony Stewart Notes
TONY STEWART
Loves to Hate Martinsville
ATLANTA (April 9, 2002) - "Tony Stewart Loves Martinsville - Driver of The
Home Depot Pontiac Returns to Favorite Track." That title would be
appropriate if the date on this press release read April 1, 2002. Alas, it
does not.
Which means despite having scored one win, two poles and three top-10
finishes in his six previous starts at Martinsville, Stewart still dislikes
racing at the .526-mile oval. His three other finishes of 20th or worse may
have something to do with that, as Martinsville seems to be a feast or famine
track for The Home Depot pilot.
But according to Stewart, Martinsville does have some saving graces. The
grandfather clock he received for winning the 2000 NAPA AutoCare 500 is one
of his favorites, and the fans that attend the Martinsville races are some of
the most devoted in the sport - both of which make Martinsville bearable for
Stewart.
And despite Stewart's previous recommendation that Martinsville's infield be
filled with water and turned into a bass pond, the venerable raceway will
remain the tight and fast bullring it always has been. And when the Virginia
500 gets underway this Sunday, Stewart will be ready.
Is Martinsville still just as you've described in the past a "parking lot
with curbs around it," or has winning given you an appreciation for the place?
"No, it's still a parking lot with curbs around it. But now it's a parking
lot with curbs where if you win they give you a really nice grandfather
clock. And they should give you something really nice after winning a race
there.
"Martinsville is Martinsville. It's a lot like Darlington (S.C.). It's a
tough surface to get a hold of, but it's got a lot of tradition and history
behind it. So, any time you can win a race on a short track you respect it,
but especially when it's at a place like Bristol (Tenn.) or Martinsville.
Those are two really hard tracks to win at."
Is there anything you like about racing at Martinsville?
"I don't know. I definitely don't dislike it as much as I used to. Winning
did help that. But I tell you what, the one thing that saves that place is
the people who are there and the fans that are there. You can see 'em every
time you're out there practicing. Every time you get into the car you can
look across the fence and see them and they're yelling good luck to you.
That's the only thing that saves that place in my opinion. But it's just a
tough place. I mean, if I can get through that whole day without getting a
scratch on The Home Depot Pontiac, it'll be a miracle."
How hard is to hit to concentrate at Martinsville on hitting your marks, when
you've got to hit your marks 500 times?
"You aren't going to hit your marks every lap. It's very hard. But if you
get a car that drives well, it makes life a lot easier. If your car is a
little bit off, then it seems like it's way off. It's probably one of the
hardest tracks on the circuit to get the balance of your car really, really
good."
How easy of a day can you have at Martinsville if your car is good? How hard
of a day can you have at Martinsville if your car is bad?
"I wouldn't say that it's an easy day if your car is good, but it's
tolerable. If your car is off, it makes for a very, very, very long day, and
it can be a very frustrating day on top of that. Again, making sure the
balance of the car is good makes you stay patient and calm for the duration
of the race."
Are Martinsville and Bristol the same from a physical standpoint?
"You're running a lot faster through the corners at Bristol, so the g-loads
are a lot higher there. At Martinsville, it's more of a mental challenge
rather than a physical challenge. Your muscles are sore because for 500
laps, you just tense up. You're running so close to people all day long and
it's easy to bump into the guy in front of you or get bumped into from
behind. There's so much that can happen. It just drains you."
When you're racing at Bristol and there's a wreck, it tends to slide down the
race track because of the banking. But what about Martinsville? Where do
wrecks tend to wind up?
"You never know where they're going to go. Sometimes they slide up.
Sometimes they don't slide out of the way at all. Sometimes they slide down
to the inside. It's really unpredictable, and even if it happens four or
five cars in front you, you're most likely going to get caught up in it
somehow just because you're racing so close together. It's a tricky track to
get around all day for 500 laps without getting some kind of battle scar on
The Home Depot Pontiac."
CHRIS "WOODY" WOODWARD - engine tuner on the #20 Home Depot Pontiac…
How has the one engine rule worked out for you so far this season?
"So far, so good. We really haven't had any issues, and we're doing a lot of
what we did last year. Last year we could have two motors, but we would
still change valve springs after the first and second practice. We continue
to do that now. The only thing we do now that's a little different is that
we don't lean on the engine as hard as we used to for qualifying. We're
pretty thorough at checking everything before a motor leaves the shop, and
then doing a lot of re-checking over the course of a weekend."
Is Martinsville harder on engines than some other tracks because of the range
of rpms the engine turns over the course of 500 laps?
"Believe it or not, Martinsville isn't as hard on an engine as Pocono (Pa.)
or Michigan is. It's the timing that it takes to get through an rpm sweep
that really tests the engine. At Martinsville, it's pretty quick. The
driver gets on the gas for a short while and then he's off of it as he brakes
going into the corner. But at Pocono, the driver comes off the corner at
8,000 rpm and it takes the entire length of the straightaway where he's
running 8,900 rpm before he lets off to go into turn one. That's where you
have more of a chance at hurting your valve train. At Martinsville, the only
place where you'll hurt the valve train is if you over-rev the engine. If
you rev the engine so much that the valve train can't keep itself in control,
then you'll have an issue. When you hear a 'Pop! Pop! Pop!' and all sorts of
funny things, that's when parts inside the engine are literally crashing into
each other."
Do you use rev limiters to prevent the over-revving of an engine?
"We've started using rev limiters again this year. We don't use it to limit
the motor. We use it more to limit the event of an accident, such as if you
were to spin on pit road and you over-rev the engine trying to grab a gear
and straighten the car out. We don't use rev limiters as a governor to limit
how fast we want to go with the motor."
When you tear the engine down back at the shop, are you seeing more wear and
tear on engine components than you did last year?
"So far, so good. The wear and everything seems to be the same. There
hasn't been any particular thing that we've had to pay extra close attention
to. Everything has looked the way it should."
Has the one engine rule made your weekend easier while making your weekdays
harder?
"No, not really, although it is easier not to have to swap motors on race
weekends like we used to. As far as preparation back at the shop, it's
probably added a little bit more work to the guys running the dynos. Before
an engine leave the dyno, we know that those guys have pulled the (valve)
lifters and checked all of the push rod tips and rocker adjusters. They just
look at all that stuff extra carefully now. It wasn't that they didn't look
at it carefully before, but they're definitely more in tune to it now knowing
that one motor has to last an entire race weekend."
2001 Schedule and Results
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