Red flag at Martinsville currently... first time I have ever heard of a track failure stopping a race.

The piece of concrete flew up and hit Gordon's car. Should he suffer because of the track failure?

Thoughts?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nextel.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway was red-flagged after 291 laps when a pothole developed in the track's concrete surface in Turn 3.

At lap 279 of 500, one of NASCAR's observers said a piece of concrete had come out of the track and bounced out of the racing groove.

Little more than 10 laps later, a hole that was described on one driver's in-car scanner as "six or seven inches deep" had developed.

Leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. missed the hole, but second place Jeff Gordon did not. Gordon suffered damage to the right front corner of his Chevrolet, which to that point had led 180 of 291 laps.

"I didn't think I hit it ever," Earnhardt Jr. said of the hole. "I saw a chunk (of concrete) about the size of a piece of lead. I went under it (but) it's hurt Jeff's car pretty good.

"It's just an old racetrack, (but) we'll fix it up and keep going."

NASCAR and track officials immediately started planning a way to patch the hole and to continue the 500-lap Nextel Cup Series event.

Gordon has won the last two Nextel Cup events here.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

certainly was interesting. as i saw it the chuck of concrete was pretty substantial.

they do the same thing at ProSolo's at Topeka. :shrugs:

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"I didn't think I hit it ever," Earnhardt Jr. said of the hole. "I saw a chunk (of concrete) about the size of a piece of lead. "
</TD></TR></TABLE>

How big is a piece of lead?

 

That's racin'.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's racin'. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Track should be protested for illegal weight reduction.

 

This is nothing new, it happens at several street courses. Miami and Denver over the past two years would come to mind, but those weren't race courses, they were concrete autocross courses.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D.CACO &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How big is a piece of lead? </TD></TR></TABLE>

My thoughts exactly, and I follow NASCAR fairly regularly...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D.CACO &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How big is a piece of lead? </TD></TR></TABLE>

The standard piece is about 12 in by 4 in... guestimate. Some smaller if less weight is needed. Also depends on the size of your lead tray.

 

This happened to us in the infield at Lowes Motor Speedway last June. A section of track was fine at the start, looked like some gravel for a few laps, then a small strip was missing. Ironically, I had walked the track that Friday afternoon and didn't notice anything (not like I was looking for it). I guess those concrete strips aren't added just for the heck of it I can't imagine what that would be like on happening on the banking.