Atlanta qualifying - Rain Out??

[Chris]

RAIN STOPPED...
Well not where I live,.. but in the general Atlanta area,.. and around the track...
Of course it'll take a couple hours to dry the track... and Nascar won't run Qualifying without a practice session first...
SO qualifying (IMO) is still not gonna happen
If they get the trak dry,... MIGHT get some practice in just for all the divisions tonight??... but another band of showers is supposed to move threw about 8:30

[Chris]

IMO I don't see a way for ANY of the CUP drivers to run EITHER CUP practice on Saturday, and still run in the BGN race.  Might make it out of the private airport and fly to Memphis in time to race.  The private airport is just off of turn #2 at AMS... 5 minutes from track... Not sure about how close they have to land at Memphis....
But still they could be cutting it close,... practice until 11:30.... be in the plane on the runway by 11:45,.. gotta be an hour from take-off to touchdown,... that just leaves 15 minutes to make the race.... and you have to account for any bad weather on the way  yet.

Jayski had 1:00 pm listed as the start time for the BGN race... that must have been 'cst' time (local time)
I never thought about the one hour time difference when I made the post above,.. so the teams got plenty of time to make the race...
STILL.. I agree with J Hammond and Larry Mac... you gotta weigh out whats important.  Going and running a BGN race (especially like Harvick when you already got a BGN title wrapped up) against winning a CUP championship.
just don't make good common sense.
I think three?? Chase drivers went to run the BGN race,... makes no sense to me.
If they run poorly tomorrow and lose some point,.. they can look back and blame THIS race,... kinda serve them right.

[Checkeredflag]

From an article on MSNBC.com...

"Team owner Richard Childress said there were no discussions to have Harvick skip Memphis. “You make the deals and you have obligations. We all understand this,” Childress said."

Personally, I give all of the guys credit for being there.  Any one of them could have said no, like Kyle Busch did.  But, they didn't - they went to Memphis, and put on a great race.  And, each of them have teammates who stayed behind in Atlanta.  They'll all be fine.  For Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, the adrenaline from having the runs they did may do more for them tomorrow than any missed practice on a track that will probably be completely different than today - there were 2 races since Happy Hour.  Doesn't all that rubber change the track's handling characterisitics?

[Chris]

"Team owner Richard Childress said there were no discussions to have Harvick skip Memphis. “You make the deals and you have obligations. We all understand this,” Childress said."

This may be true...
Sounds like conflicting reports... Nascar on line reported early this week that Harvick said he had NO plans of racing Memphis this week,  he already had the BGN title sewn up,.. and he planned on staying at Atlanta and making his CUP car as good as possible.

there were 2 races since Happy Hour.  Doesn't all that rubber change the track's handling characterisitics?

Thats true to a point.... problem is you have to know what practice was like when it ENDED... thats what the track is gonna be like when the race is going on tomorrow... temps, etc etc.
True the track has more rubber, but the crews know how to adjust for that,.. what they DON'T know how to adjust for is having to just GUESS what the track was like when there driver wasn't there to tell them.
True Harvick had Burton to tell him what went on,.. but he had struggles of his own,.. so not sure he can tell him too much.

[Busch Babe 899]

I'm glad I slept all day...the rain was up here, too. Lovely sleeping weather! 

[Checkeredflag]

Thats true to a point.... problem is you have to know what practice was like when it ENDED... thats what the track is gonna be like when the race is going on tomorrow... temps, etc etc.
True the track has more rubber, but the crews know how to adjust for that,.. what they DON'T know how to adjust for is having to just GUESS what the track was like when there driver wasn't there to tell them.
True Harvick had Burton to tell him what went on,.. but he had struggles of his own,.. so not sure he can tell him too much.

Thanks, Chris.

One more question...can they use the information from the truck race to set up cars for today?

Harvick and Bowyer can get info from Hornaday's team, Edwards from any of 3 teams, Kahne from Erin Crocker (OK - maybe Hamilton, Jr. might have better info), Hamlin and Yeley from Almirola, and poor Reed is kinda out of luck if it is helpful, since Ganassi doesn't have any direct affiliation with a truck team.   So, I'm just wondering if that would be at all helpful?

[Chris]

well... kinda yes,.. kinda no...
They can get info as to how the track changed as the day went on... (then again they raced until almost dark)
Green flag isn't schedule until almost 3:00 pm today,.... so with the time change it'll be about dark when the CUP race ends (maybe later).  Actually I just checked and sunset is scheduled for 5:45... so no way the race will be over by then...  Three hours would be a REAL fast race to run 500 miles.
So maybe the guys can give them an idea how the track changed on toward dark,...

But it'll be a crap shoot at best.  The trucks do NOT relate to the CUP cars very much at all IMO.  If they did you'd see a BUNCH of CUP guys go and run the CTS events when they were companions events to the CUP races just like when the BGN series are.
With the big boxy cabs of the trucks,.. the way the cabs drop square off,.. the the huge spoilers on the rear...  they just don't drive or race the same.
SO other then the adjustments they had to make to the truck as the day went on I doubt they would learn much,.. and much of that is driver preference.

IMO I think Hamlin and Yeley would get more info from Stewart (from happy hour itself). EVen though Stewart was only 14th fastest.  Same for Harvick and Bowyer; getting info from Burton.
I think Edwards will be OK since Kenseth stayed, as did Biffle.  Both ran good in one of the two session,.. and they can relay reliable info about the track, it's changes, etc.
I'd say Kasey Kahne COULD be in trouble... SURE he was FASTEST in Happy hour,.. but it came within the first few laps of HH,.. and then he parked his car.  SO what happened was he ran a couple real fast laps out of the box, parked his car,.. then the track got more rubber, got hotter,.. and no one ever run that fast because the track changed.
ALso no cars ran anything BETWEEN the Cup first session and HH... so they SHOULD have been able to nail it right off the bat if they were close.  SO IMO he may not have a clue what the track will do as the race wears on.
And his team mates did not run well,.. so may not be able to tell him much.  Riggs MIGHT be able to help out,.. but seems like he run HIS fast laps early in the HH session also... NOt sure where he 'really' stands.  AT least Kahnes team mates CAN tell him what the track did as practice went on.

STILL we gotta remember,.. HH was from 12:00-1:00 yesterday.  High yesterday was ONLY about 55. (around 3:30 or so)
TODAY the race don't even START until 3:00 pm,.. and the high is forecast to be 70  CURRENTLY is it ALREADY 52 and it is only 9:30 am.
The high is scheduled to be about 4:00 pm.
SO it'll be a LOT warmer at 3:00 pm then when HH ended yesterday,.. and keep getting warmer.
SO it's possible all the teams wil kinda be making an educated guess,.. and have to build some adjustablity into the car.
BUT the more DIRECT info you have directly from you driver,.. the better your "guess' can be,.. and the more competitive you can be.
If the race goes green from the start for a while,.. some drivers that went to Memphis COULD find themselves lapped early..??