MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Is one of NASCAR new safety devices turning into a safety hazard? NASCAR officials sure hope not.

For the second consecutive race, a Nextel Cup team experienced problems with the melting of energy-absorbing foam, apparently from heat from the exhaust pipe area and filling the car with dangerous fumes. The foam is located in the side door areas.

Last week it was Matt Kenseths team who experienced the problem. This week, driver Kevin Harvick had to quickly stop his car on pit road and get out when the dark fumes suddenly engulfed his No. 29 Chevrolet.

Cup series director John Darby said officials will work on the problem right away.

This team had taken the extra steps to help insulate the area. For whatever reason, they had seen some moderate melting on the No. 29 in testing, Darby said.

What we need to do is get some more free air moving under the foam to keep it cool or to keep the heat waves out.

Asked whether the problem was more related to the tailpipe or the foam, Darby said, They say they did not have an exhaust pipe failure. Now there was enough fuel burning in the tailpipes (where) its easy to assume those tailpipes were hotter than those not doing that.

The bottom line is still we have to get a better cooling to it, regardless of how hot the tailpipes are.


also:
Foam and smoking a problem: When the Car of Tomorrow debuted a week earlier in Bristol, several drivers most notably 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth - complained of the foam padding in the right side of the door melting and releasing noxious fumes. NASCAR insisted that the cars that had problems with the foam had incorrectly installed, a charge Kenseth strongly denied. The foam problem reared its ugly head again at Martinsville, with the victim this time being #29-Kevin Harvick, who actually had it catch fire in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Smoke just started coming out the right-side door so I guess blaming it on something else is probably not the right thing to do, said Harvick. I mean this thing just started burning up so it's almost turning it into a joke now. He was uninjured, and NASCAR has promised an investigation.(SPEEDtv.com)(4-2-2007)