THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507080016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUDON, N.H. LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
One year ago, in the midst of an uncommonly hot heat wave in New Hampshire, the asphalt in the turns of the one-mile track here at New Hampshire International Speedway could not withstand the high temperatures and the constant grinding of stock cars at speed.
The track crumbled and came apart all weekend, and the racing suffered because of it.
It's hot again here this weekend, but the track won't be breaking up. Temperatures are in the 80s, not the 90s, and the patches of asphalt that were used to fix the turns are holding up well.
But that doesn't mean it's easy to drive, even though Mark Martin set a Winston Cup track record Friday of 128.815 mph to win the pole for Sunday's race.
``The patches in the corners are really, really slippery,'' Martin said. ``But the one good thing about those patches, they are not going to tear up no matter how hot it gets.''
``It seems like turns three and four are more slippery,'' said Joe Nemechek, who qualified third. ``If you get into (turn three) just 20 feet too far, you'd better hang on, be cause you are going to be sliding.''
RAYBESTOS OUT: Two sources close to the Stavola Brothers racing team said Friday that longtime NASCAR sponsor Raybestos will not be returning as the team's sponsor in 1996.
MARTIN ON CHEVY: Mark Martin's comments on the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which has won 12 of 15 races this year:
``They built a car that you would build. Before the Monte Carlo, if they told me to shape a car, some of it would have looked a lot like that car. It has the racer's shape.
`` I'd give anything to have as much downforce as a Chevy - except build a Chevy.'' by CNB