CONCORD, N.C. — A rare extended practice session at Martinsville Speedway will provide Cup Series teams with an opportunity to test new tires. It will also create some potential concerns heading into Sunday's pivotal playoff race.
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Teams will want to know that their brakes will last all 500 laps at the .526-mile short track.
"With the extended practice, I do have a slight concern over brake wear, because I do think that that's a lot," Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Chase Elliott, told FanBuzz on Thursday.
"We typically wouldn't ever do that. If we'd had that much practice in the past, we'd change pads and rotors."
Gustafson is not the only Hendrick Motorsports crew chief with some concerns about potential brake wear heading into Sunday's pivotal playoff race. Rudy Fugle of the No. 24 team and Cliff Daniels of the No. 5 team share these concerns as they try to get their respective drivers into the Championship 4.
The current expectation is that the teams will not be able to change brakes after practice and qualifying. Fugle said that Hendrick Motorsports had "petitioned" NASCAR to let all of the teams start the race with fresh brakes due to concerns about extra wear.
The answer was "No."
This means that the crew chiefs and their teams will have to come up with a plan to manage the brake wear while still gaining crucial knowledge over the 45-minute session. They will have to strike a balance while taking part in practice on Saturday afternoon.
"I think we're all a bit concerned of (brake wear)," Daniels told FanBuzz. "We've seen over the Next Gen era races where brake wear has created failures and created issues.
"None of us can predict exactly what's going to happen this weekend, but of course, it's a concern. We'll try to manage it and be as smart as we can. We have let NASCAR know our concerns, so I'm hopeful that when we get into the weekend, it's not as bad as what we think it may be, or if it is, that we can work with NASCAR."
While brake failures have taken place at such tracks as Gateway or Phoenix, they have not been a common occurrence at Martinsville in the Next Gen era. The Cup cars have held up during the grueling races.
Of course, the teams have only taken part in 20-minute practice sessions before recent races at the short track.
This weekend's event will have different procedures due to the updated tires. Goodyear will bring the right-side tires from Richmond — previously known as the Option tires. The left-side tires will feature a new tread compound that Goodyear says is even softer.
Having the extended practice will provide teams with the opportunity to see how the new tires wear before they complete meaningful laps, thus helping with strategy. The practice will also create the potential for brake issues later in the weekend.
Will there be brake failures with the extra time on the track? No one truly knows the answer.
As Adam Stevens, Christopher Bell's crew chief, joked, he doesn't have a crystal ball. That doesn't mean there won't be concerns.
The crew chiefs will just have to hope that NASCAR will work with them if any issues arise.
"I guess if NASCAR saw something excessive, maybe they would let us make some changes," Stevens said. "Certainly, when we have cracked rotors after practice, they let everybody change them.
"Not going to say that's at the top of my list of worries, but I'll put it on there now that you mentioned it."
