by Jeff Hammond

NASCARTV on SPEED: Martinsville Friday, 10/21 on SPEED 3 p.m. ET: Nextel Cup qualifying Saturday, 10/22 on SPEED 11 a.m. ET: Nextel Cup Happy Hour 1 p.m. ET: Craftsman Truck race Photo gallery ... Chase Round 5: Charlotte | | Riding with Junior: Charlotte Analysis... DW: Sympathy for the drivers

If you ran too hard early, you got in trouble. Friday night's tire trouble continued on Saturday night. I've been a crew chief for a long time, and the track really challenged a lot of these crew chiefs. They had to figure out how to set the air pressure in their tires and adjust their chassis to let the drivers run hard. Tony Stewart was basically just cruising around the track when he cut a right rear tire. There's not a whole lot you can do except rebound, and that's exactly what crew chief Greg Zipadelli did. Elliott Sadler had a very fast race car again, but he spun it around. As a crew chief, you're pulling out your hair for 500 miles, trying to figure out what to do. How do I get my guy to slow down enough to be able to make it to the end? Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus did an outstanding job and took the lead at the end when it counted.

Tracking a monster

Somebody didn't do his or her homework on the track surface. Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler tried to create better racing for the fans. Instead, he created a monster, and I don't think he, NASCAR or Goodyear realized the magnitude of it. A lot of people want to blame the tire manufacturer, but Goodyear can't fix a problem when they don't understand the extent of what happened to the race track. Wheeler must fix the track before May.

A lot of cars hit the wall extremely hard over the weekend. Even drivers that were leading the race had problems. They were going 80 or 90 percent, and they are used to running at 100 percent. This situation at Lowe's opened up a lot of eyes, and a lot of competitors are definitely upset. NASCAR's not going to allow something like this to happen in the future.

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Chase tightens

Not of his own doing, point leader Stewart had a bad race when the race track jumped up and bit him. The team did an excellent job fixing the damage on the race car. They didn't give up because they realized there was a lot of racing. They kept working on the No. 20 car and made the most of it with a 25th-place finish which kept them atop the standings.

Ryan Newman looked like he had an opportunity to make a big jump in the points, but tire issues caught up with him too. How about Kurt Busch? He picked up 85 points even though he was unhappy finishing 2nd to Johnson. With a top-10 finish, Mark Martin got back in this Chase. And Mark, you need to be a little bit more optimistic. You can get the job done and win your first title.

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FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's new book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.