muggle not
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Has this been posted yet, if so pls ignore. 
Charlotte track work has Wheeler worried about speeds
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
The heavy machinery barely crept along as it dropped a 2-inch layer of asphalt on Turn 4 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Wednesday, but track president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was already worrying about how fast things might soon be going there.
"I am concerned that we might see a significant increase in speed," Wheeler said as work continued on the resurfacing project at the 1.5-mile track. "I just hope the speeds don't get up to around 200 mph, because I think that would concern everybody."
For just the third time in its 46-year history, Lowe's is getting a complete repaving that will be done in time for testing leading up to the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge and Coca-Cola 600 weekends in May.
The last time it happened, in 1994, top qualifying speed jumped from 177.352 mph to 181.439 mph. If speeds go up by the same percentage after this resurfacing, the current track record of 193.216 mph would jump to just under 197.7 mph in May.
Geoffrey Bodine set the track record at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 197.478 mph in 1997, just after that 1.5-mile track was reconfigured and repaved.
Anything significantly higher than that speed here would force NASCAR to make a tough decision about whether it should take measures - such as restrictor plates like the ones used at Daytona and Talladega - to slow the cars down.
"We will certainly be monitoring things closely during the tests there," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday.
So will Wheeler.
Once the paving, in which a 1.5-inch layer eventually will be placed on top of the 2-inch layer now going down, is completed, Goodyear will bring in a couple of Nextel Cup drivers to help them pick a tire to be used in the May events here.
That will be critical, Wheeler said.
"If they pick a harder tire, speeds may not be as fast as they were last May," he said. "But if you pick one that's harder than it needs to be, the cars won't handle well and we don't want that, either."
Each Nextel Cup team then will be allowed to test for two days in a three-day period beginning May 1.
"I hope we have a spring heat wave at least one of those days, where it's about 85 degrees and the track gets good and hot and slick," Wheeler said.
"That's what they'll need to get ready for the 600."
The $3.5 million track resurfacing became necessary after a process that smoothed major bumps out of the surface contributed to a Nextel Cup record number of cautions last May and a race in October in which tires were failing at alarming rate.
Charlotte track work has Wheeler worried about speeds
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
The heavy machinery barely crept along as it dropped a 2-inch layer of asphalt on Turn 4 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Wednesday, but track president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was already worrying about how fast things might soon be going there.
"I am concerned that we might see a significant increase in speed," Wheeler said as work continued on the resurfacing project at the 1.5-mile track. "I just hope the speeds don't get up to around 200 mph, because I think that would concern everybody."
For just the third time in its 46-year history, Lowe's is getting a complete repaving that will be done in time for testing leading up to the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge and Coca-Cola 600 weekends in May.
The last time it happened, in 1994, top qualifying speed jumped from 177.352 mph to 181.439 mph. If speeds go up by the same percentage after this resurfacing, the current track record of 193.216 mph would jump to just under 197.7 mph in May.
Geoffrey Bodine set the track record at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 197.478 mph in 1997, just after that 1.5-mile track was reconfigured and repaved.
Anything significantly higher than that speed here would force NASCAR to make a tough decision about whether it should take measures - such as restrictor plates like the ones used at Daytona and Talladega - to slow the cars down.
"We will certainly be monitoring things closely during the tests there," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday.
So will Wheeler.
Once the paving, in which a 1.5-inch layer eventually will be placed on top of the 2-inch layer now going down, is completed, Goodyear will bring in a couple of Nextel Cup drivers to help them pick a tire to be used in the May events here.
That will be critical, Wheeler said.
"If they pick a harder tire, speeds may not be as fast as they were last May," he said. "But if you pick one that's harder than it needs to be, the cars won't handle well and we don't want that, either."
Each Nextel Cup team then will be allowed to test for two days in a three-day period beginning May 1.
"I hope we have a spring heat wave at least one of those days, where it's about 85 degrees and the track gets good and hot and slick," Wheeler said.
"That's what they'll need to get ready for the 600."
The $3.5 million track resurfacing became necessary after a process that smoothed major bumps out of the surface contributed to a Nextel Cup record number of cautions last May and a race in October in which tires were failing at alarming rate.
