With rain in the forecast for Saturday, the possibility remained that the cars could run with rain tires. Yep, you read that right — rain tires. Just when you thought NASCAR could take a break from talking about tires. #59-Marcos Ambrose and some other former open-wheelers would seem to be at an advantage if it rains, but the affable Australian wasn’t so sure in his specific case. “I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing because I know what to expect,” he said, laughing. He added that driving the Nationwide cars would be “treacherous,” and could make for different braking choices. “It’ll make it interesting for sure, if it happens.” The forecast was calling for a 60 percent chance of rain during the race. NASCAR has never run a national-series points race in the rain, so Saturday could be a first.(ESPN.com)(8-1-2008)
UPDATE: With a chance of rain Saturday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, NASCAR officials were plotting strategy on how to handle the possibility of a wet NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series race. Goodyear has rain tires available, but that is clearly a final option. Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said NASCAR would dictate when teams would put rain tires on before or during the race. “Our first effort would be to run in the dry, if possible,” Balash said. “We have the cars prepared for rain. We have our rain tires that are available to us. We have the wiper motors, the lights, the blowers, the teams can put Rain-X on, so the teams are prepared to run in the event of rain. “If we would have a situation where rain would occur, where we would deem it necessary to go to the rain option, we would probably put a caution out maybe even call it a red flag bring the teams onto pit road, make the changeover and then put them back on the race course.”(SceneDaily.com)(8-2-2008)
