Martinsville readying to race; track would like a new date & more news

The Martinsville Cup race is scheduled to begin at noon EASTERN on Monday. The race will be broadcast by Fox and can be heard on MRN and Sirius Satellite radio. Also, I'll be providing updates via Twitter, just follow me at www.twitter.com/dustinlong.

Weather has been an issue lately for Martinsville. Friday qualifying was rained out, marking the third time in the last four events at this track rain had washed out qualifying and now comes Sunday's race being rained out.

I talked to Clay Campbell, track president of Martinsville Speedway and he said he would like to have a new date for this spring race (the track had a mid-April date for a number of years until moving up earlier in the schedule in 2007). Here's what he said:

"March, it's a tough time period here, so yes, I'm talking to see if there's any chance of something being done (spring date moved). I don't know if there is. Years ago we were the last week of April. That's a good time of the year around here. I know NASCAR has a tough time juggling the schedule around because if they move one (date), it takes two to move. I understand that, and I understand that NASCAR has issues, too. It's not an easy thing to do, and I'd say the chances are slim of any movement happening, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't try to improve what we've got here.''

Of course, there could be a good bit of movement to the schedule next year if the legal issues around Kentucky Motor Speedway get resolved and Bruton Smith moves a Cup date there. Also, International Speedway Corp., wants a second date for Kansas Speedway but has not said from what track it will take it from. ISC owns Martinsville Speedway. Certainly, there could be a good bit of changes to the schedule next year and this is about the time of the year that NASCAR officials begin working on the next year's schedule.

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GOODYEAR TIRE TESTS

Goodyear officials have scheduled a tire test April 20-21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and are expected to have about a dozen teams there. Among those expected to test: Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson.

Goodyear also plans to test at Bristol before the night race there in light of some tire issues at last week's race and will look to test at Atlanta before the Labor Day night race.

Here's Goodyear's Greg Stucker on why the Bristol test: "We just saw a little more guys showing a little more heat, particularly in right fronts than we wanted to. Just wasn't as bulletproof as it was on the Nationwide cars and the trucks last August when we raced that combination. So, just feel like we can go back there and improve it a little bit.

As for the Gibbs cars all having issues at Bristol, Stucker said they did have a conference call with the team but he said such calls are typical throughout the season. Stucker also said on the issue: "Just trying to understand what led to it and trying to understand their setups. (The tire issues) weren't team related. There were enough issues that we recognize that we felt it was something that we had to find something that is a little more robust. It just wasn't a Gibbs issue or a Hendrick issue or anything else like that.''

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NOT SURPRISED ABOUT SURGERY

Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Mike Ford, admits he's not surprised Hamlin will have surgery on his torn ACL in his left knee before the season ends as Hamlin had intended. Ford said he wanted Hamlin to have the surgery as soon as he was injured in January.

As to who makes the call on if Hamlin gets out of the car after his knee surgery, Ford said; "He'll make the call. If he's erratic, then we'll encourage him to make the call.

Ford on Hamlin's pain tolerance: "If it's on him, yeah. He's beaten himself up a couple of times, a hand incident at Richmond. He's had broken toes and things like that and he's dealt through that. I would say it's pretty high.''

Ford on the timing of Hamlin's surgery: "As soon as they said he's not going to be able to do anything until the offseason, I knew it wasn't going to last because he's just active. I gave it until Charlotte (in May). I said Charlotte would be the very latest anything would happen, so I wanted it done before Daytona. Obviously, my weight doesn't fly very high on those types of decisions. Just knowing him, he's active, him taking care of it for a season, that was not going to happen.''

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