news-record.com

Jeff Gordon guarantees it.

He says the nightmare that was last year's Brickyard 400 won't happen again.

Gordon was among 12 drivers testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday and Tuesday. It was the seventh and final tire test Goodyear has had since last year's race.

A Goodyear official was asked if he could guarantee that last year's problems would not be repeated. Before he could respond, Gordon spoke.

"I will guarantee it," Gordon said in a conference call with reporters. "I'm 100 percent confident. I ran this tire as hard as I possibly could, put numerous laps on them. It's a dead issue."

That should be good news for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reports have stated the attendance for July's race could be between 100,000-150,000. Last year's crowd was estimated at 240,000.

Asked about those reports this past weekend, NASCAR Chairman Brian France said he didn't know what the attendance would be.

"People are buying tickets later, much later," hesaid. "Our fans are waiting. They're nervous. They're also waiting a little bit to figure out if we can get the track correct, which we will in teams of the tire issues that we've had."

DANICA MANIA: Danica Patrick was coy on a conference call Tuesday about what her future will be — she's in the final year of her contract with her Indy Car team — but says she'll likely announce her decision after the Indy Car season, which ends Oct. 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

She's expected to receive interest from other Indy Car teams and some NASCAR teams.

"I think that the most important thing for me is to put myself in a situation where I can win as many races as possible and run up front and be in a competitive situation," she said. "At the end of the day, usually the best press comes when I'm doing things on track. That's really the most important thing for me."

Asked about the early struggles Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti had in moving from Indy Car to NASCAR, Patrick said she's aware of it.

"I think what it shows, it is difficult and you do need as much help as possible, but as a credit to them, they haven't been driving for the best teams in NASCAR either," she said. "How can you really hold them accountable for not going extremely well in the very beginning when they didn't have the resources? Sam is doing much better, and Juan (Pablo Montoya) is doing much better. They don't drive for Hendrick or Roush or any of the top teams."

DRIVER KILLED: Carlos Pardo was killed in a NASCAR Mexico race during the weekend. Pardo was leading when he went to block a competitor on the inside. They hit, turning Pardo, who slid passenger-side into a concrete barrier on the inside of the track. The contact sent sheet metal flying in all directions, leaving only a mangled chassis.

Jimmie Johnson said he saw a video of the accident and noted the track conditions.

"There were so many things wrong in that situation, I wouldn't even drive a race car on that track," he said. "Those moveable concrete walls that were there, if you just hit it in a straight line, one of those sections is going to move and now you're going to hit the blunt end of another section.''

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said OCESA sanctions the series, not NASCAR. He said NASCAR has a licensing agreement with OCESA for the Mexican series.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com