SCHRADER ON TIRES:

“There are a lot of things you can do

with tires to help your car, but it is a crutch.”

 

Ken Schrader, driver of the #21 U.S. Air Force/Little Debbie/Motorcraft Fusion, is an eight-time participant in the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and he has driven in 12 Open events at Lowe’s Motor Speedway since 1987.  His record includes six top-fives in the Challenge and three top-fives in the Open.  His best finish was second three times in the Challenge and once in the Open.  This week he answers his fan’s questions regarding the event, tires at Charlotte, the new track surface, testing, his Busch program and Toyota.

 

Are you looking forward to driving in the All Star race or do you have other races planned?  “No, we are going to run the Open and hope to transfer to the All-Star race.  That’s the plan for that night.”

 

Are you concerned about the continuing issues of tires holding up at Lowe’s? Or do you think Goodyear will have it worked out by the time the races roll around?  “I don’t think we really saw any tire problems at all during testing.  We had some punctures, but I think that is what most of it was.  I’m not really worried about that.  We didn’t have any tire problems last year.  There are a lot of things you can do with tires to help your car, but it is a crutch.  You need to get your car right first, and not abuse the tires so much.

Kenny, do you think they messed up a good thing when they tried redoing the Lowe’s track surface?  “I think it was a place we ran three-wide, and they wanted to make something exciting happen.  They re-ground it and then they had to repave it.  Yeah, I think they should have left it alone like it was.  We will eventually be able to run three-wide again, but not right away.”

 

Why recently at the Richmond test did you choose not to test during the night sessions but during both day sessions when the race is for the most part a night race? And how does this differ from the Lowe’s test where you did run the day and night sessions?  “At Richmond we did test at night the first day.  We didn’t test a night the second day.   We had 12 hours both days, and the second day we just decided to make it nine hours.  We still got plenty of testing in and even some night testing.”

 

Is it possible for Ken to run more races in the #66 Brewco Ford?  “We just made a deal to run the ten races in the Brewco Busch car, and that is all we’re looking to run.”

 

Will you be the driver of the Yard Man car July 22 in the Martinsville Speedway Busch Race under the lights?  “I’m not going to run the Brewco car in July.  We’ll be at Pocono that weekend.”

 

Ken in a Toyota - what do you think?  “I’ve already got all my seats set in the 21, and they feel pretty good.  That’s pretty nice over there.”