If racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is tough on both men and machines, then Dover International Speedway is tougher by an order of magnitude.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that NHMS is flat as a billiard table while the Monster Mile is akin to racing in a blender bowl.

Kevin Manion, crew chief for Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 1 Chevrolet, says that Dover delivers a beating to the suspension pieces, and that makes every component on the car vulnerable to failure.

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It's just like rolling down I-20 going to Talladega. It's bumpy and you have to get used to it and find a way to be comfortable.

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KEVIN MANION

"Everything, to be honest," Manion quipped when asked what Dover was especially tough on. "It's very tough on all your suspension, mainly the right-front and the lower A-frame. People bend them there and at Bristol; there's a lot of load there. We do run a heavy-duty suspension package there, from jack screws to bump stops to lower A-frames. It's a heavy-duty, beefier suspension package."

Given that Goodyear held a recent tire test on the 1-mile concrete oval, Manion says the softer tire this weekend will help mitigate some of that.

"Dover is unique because it's concrete, and what we've had there in the past is, as the track has rubbered up, the white concrete turns to black and the rubber buildup gets the car bounding around," he said. "That was last year. The spring race, we didn't have that.

"The track never really took rubber, never changed color, and this race coming up, Goodyear has changed the tire. From everything that we can see, it looks like Goodyear's going back to a little more grippier tire and we think the track looks like it will take rubber. You'll kind of fight that rubber buildup feeling, the track getting a little tighter and the front tires bouncing a little bit more. That's the thing we're going to be fighting the most."

Grip, at a place like Dover, is important because you're in the corner so long during a lap. Manion said that the softer tire compound will have an impact not only on the grip levels, but on the competition.

"The race we won last spring and last fall's race were pretty good races," he said. "The spring race, a lot of people including us, fought no grip, loose, and I think that as Goodyear learns more about the car and we learn more about the car and it gets faster -- I think Goodyear came into the season with a little too conservative tire. Goodyear seems like they've stepped up their tire test program, and I think you'll see a little bit better racing with a little softer tire. (Continued)