So I was going to go over to Lowe's last night to watch qualifying and try to do some more networking, but it rained just enough to wash out the entire day. With Charlotte being the home track for alot of teams you usually see some small budget teams or new drivers in a 3rd or 4th team car try to qualify, and it's a shame that they didn't even have a chance yesterday. It will be sad when the franchising comes into play and you can't build a car in your garage and try to qualify. It is one of the more romantic aspects of the sport.

I digress (as usual). So, how do you prep for the race when a whole day of running has been washed out. In this case, not a whole lot. On Fridays many of the teams will work exclusivly on qualifying setups, so it is a wasted day for dialing the car in for race trim anyway. At RGM I would say about 80% of the time we would start making qualifying runs off the truck. I rarely thought this was a prudent approach, but it wasn't my tire bill either. It just seems to me that it would take 5-10 laps for a driver to remember his marks and get comfortable at the track again in the first practice. So if I was calling the shots I would put in q trim but open the grille and let the driver get settled in before you ask him to hustle the car in a true qualifying lap.

So...I don't think the rainout will have hurt anyone yesterday. It is bright and sunny as I look out the window, and both practices should be rain free. The first practice is at 5 so the track could be a little greasy still, but the second practic at 6:40 will be the one that you want to hone in on to see who is going to be fast. The race starts around 7 so the conditions (theoretically) will about what they will be at the start of the race. The one thing you don't want to do is get freaked out that the car is loose in practice and tighten the crap out of it, because the track will tighten up (usually) when the track cools and there is more grip.

Another topic you will hear alot about is tires. This family of tire that gets run here has the least grip of any tire on the circuit. So expect to see comments on the trackpass to the effect of "lacking overall grip".

Predictions...The 48, 99, and 16 are razor sharp, so expect them to battle tooth and nail. The 20 will be bouyant after cracking into the win column, but you can't really see the Home Depot car running for the win at Lowe's. The 11 is battered and bruised, so a top 25 is all i can see. The 18 hauled ass in the Allstar race in May with an experimental motor, but he always shines here. I'd put my bucks on the 18.