Competition caution might as well be a four-letter word at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NASCAR and Goodyear have done all they can to erase the horrible memories from last year, when competition cautions flew every nine laps in hopes of avoiding a disastrous blowout at one of the premier races on the Sprint Cup schedule.

With just over a month to go before the 2009 version of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Sprint Cup drivers and Goodyear officials believe they've got it right.

"I'm 100 percent confident," said Jeff Gordon, who participated in a tire test at Indy this week along with Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne. "I ran this tire as hard as I possibly could, put numerous laps on them. It's a dead issue. This is going to be a race here. It might come down to fuel mileage, it might come down to a lot of different factors, fastest car, not the fastest car, track position, a double fire restart with 10 to go, but it's not going to come down to a 10-lap shootout on whose tires can last."

That's exactly what last year's race turned out to be. Second only to the Daytona 500 in prestige, last year's race ended up becoming a huge black eye for the sport as cars chewed up tires on a track that had been recently resurfaced.

NASCAR was forced to use competition cautions to keep cars from crashing. They started in 15 lap increments, but eventually got to the point where the caution was thrown every nine laps.

The final competition caution came just 10 laps from the finish. Jimmie Johnson ended up winning the race, but by that time no one cared.

By the time the race ended, the average speed was just over 115 mph and the caution had flown 11 times. There were 52 caution laps in the 160-lap race, and the longest green-flag run was 12 laps.

It was time for damage control.

"There was nobody that walked out of here as part of this whole group, the teams, NASCAR and Goodyear, that weren't disappointed with last year's outcome, and we went to work the very next day," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. "And I can guarantee you within the racing division, there hasn't been a day go by that we haven't talked about the Brickyard, the race, our feelings about it, and what we're doing. So it's been No. 1 priority for the last 11 months."

That priority has led to seven tests and more than 13,000 miles driven on tires to try and come up with the right compound.

They better have it right. With NASCAR's television ratings on the downswing and sponsorship dollars harder to come by, another disaster like last year's can only hurt the sport.

It doesn't sound like it's going to happen. In fact, it could be quite the opposite.

"It might be whether or not we can stay out and how far we can push it, if anything," Gordon said. "They've done an excellent job. I think a lot of – obviously – credit goes to Goodyear, all the hard work, effort, time, money that's been spent to make it right. There's been a lot of teams that have contributed to put in a lot of laps in here to get it to where it is today."

Let's hope that's still the case next month.

Mark Martin: The veteran driver didn't take the easiest path to his third victory of the season last week in Michigan. First, Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas, then Greg Biffle did the same. Martin was the beneficiary and is tied for the season series lead in victories. More important, he solidified his Chase position by moving from 13th to eighth in the points.

Matt Kenseth: Remember all the warm fuzzy feelings that surrounded Kenseth after his back-to-back victories to open the season? Those are long gone, as Kenseth fights to remain in the Chase. A 16th-place finish at Pocono was followed by a 20th at Michigan. Kenseth is 11th in points, but only 41 points ahead of 13th-place David Reutimann.

Road-course specialists ready: Sunday's Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway will give race fans a chance to see several road-course specialists, including Ron Fellows, Boris Said and Patrick Carpentier. Fellows had second-place finishes at Watkins Glen in 1999 and 2004.

Speed a dark horse? If you're looking for a driver to watch in Sunday's Sprint Cup race, Scott Speed could be the guy. The driver of the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota made his single-seat debut in 2001 at the track. Speed won the series title that year, which eventually led to a Formula One ride.

Another switch for A.J. Foyt Racing: Vitor Meira's seat with A.J. Foyt Racing will have another driver this weekend at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Meira was injured at the Indianapolis 500. Paul Tracy and A.J. Foyt IV have driven the car already. Sunday, it will be Ryan Hunter-Reay, who is 10th in points. Hunter-Reay finished eighth at Iowa last year.

Texas Motor Speedway has teamed with 7-Eleven once again to offer the Family 4-Pack. The package includes four backstretch tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks for $159.