Tires Remain Hot Topic After Atlanta

By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer
Published: March 10, 2008

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) - Tony Stewart has gotten into it with the
media. He’s taken out his frustration on fellow drivers. He’s even
gone after all-mighty NASCAR.
Now Goodyear is feeling his wrath.
On a day when nearly everyone complained about the quality of
tires provided for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor
Speedway, no one was more biting in their criticism than Stewart.
“I can’t say it’s surprising,” Stewart said. “They got run
out of Formula One. They got run out of CART, the IRL. They got run
out of World of Outlaws sprint cars. They got run out of USAC
divisions because they couldn’t keep up and make a quality enough
product.”
Ouch. And that’s from the guy who finished second to Kyle Busch
in the Kobalt Tools 500.
While others were a bit more diplomatic than Stewart, just about
everyone complained about the tire Goodyear decided to use on a
1.54-mile, high-banked oval that is notorious for wearing down the
rubber faster than most tracks on the Cup circuit.
Carl Edwards said his shoulders were aching from struggling with
the wheel all day. Jeff Gordon said he felt as if he was going to
wreck on every lap. There was very little side-by-racing, with most
drivers more concerned with making sure they got to the finish
without getting into the wall.
But Stewart really let loose, saying NASCAR should not have made
Goodyear its sole provider of tires. The company has a five-year
contract with the sanctioning body that runs through 2011, an
arrangement that NASCAR prefers because it doesn’t want multiple
companies competing for business at the expense of safety.
“The bad thing is they’ve got an exclusive deal,” Stewart
said. “They have no reason to have to push and make their product
better because they have no competition. I don’t know what it’s
going to take to get them to give us a quality tire that this
series and NASCAR deserves. But they obviously aren’t capable of
doing it right now.
“If I were Goodyear, I would really be embarrassed about what
they brought here. I guarantee you Hoosier or Firestone or somebody
can come in and do a better job than they are right now.”
A Goodyear official declined to respond directly to Stewart’s
complaints but defended the company’s products.
“We’re not stagnant. Things keep evolving. We’ll take this and
learn from it,” said Justin Fantozzi, the marketing manager for
Goodyear’s motorsports division. “We do the best job we can with
the data we have. We bring the safest tire we know how to build.”
As with most things NASCAR, there’s always divergent opinions on
what needs to be done to provide the best competition. No matter
what sort of tire it builds, Goodyear will likely be criticized by
someone.
“There’s 43 drivers here. There’s 43 crew chiefs. There’s 30
car owners,” Fantozzi pointed out. “So there’s about 120 opinions
on what needs to be done.”
But the backlash against the tire chosen for Atlanta track was
stunning in its ferocity, a near-unanimous chorus against Goodyear
for choosing a compound that wouldn’t wear out as quickly but
sucked all the life out of the action on the track.
“I felt like I was going to crash every single lap,” said
Gordon, who started on the pole and finished fifth. “I’m exhausted
right now. I feel like I’ve run a thousand miles here. There is
just no reason for this. This car, this tire, at this race track,
was just terrible.”
The “Car of Tomorrow,” which is in its first full season of
Cup racing, isn’t making Goodyear’s job any easier. The car is
designed to improve safety, but it’s bigger, bulkier frame makes it
tougher to drive and provides a whole new challenge for tire
engineers.
During Sunday’s race, drivers rarely got in more than a couple
of laps at top speeds before their tires began to lose grip. That
turned the event into nothing more than follow-the-leader, with
everyone fighting for control of their own car rather than worrying
about competing with those around them.
“I don’t think the race was all that exciting,” said
third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr., set to join Gordon for a
tire test Monday at Darlington.
“We couldn’t run side-by-side. We’d wreck. We had to let each
other go by. Every time you got beside a guy, you were just like,
‘Take it.’ I couldn’t go in the corner side by side. No one else
out there really could, either.”
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter defended Goodyear, pointing out
there were no major crashes. All but two of the 43 cars were
running at the end, and Elliott Sadler was the only driver knocked
out of the race in a crash. He lost control and spun into the wall
on lap 262.
Sadler wasn’t hurt, and no one else was involved.
“This was only the second race on a mile-and-a-half track with
the new car,” Hunter said. “Goodyear always puts safety first,
and there were no tire failures. There’s no doubt this car is
harder to drive and as a result, there’s a bigger premium on the
driver’s ability. We certainly can understand drivers being
frustrated after 500 grueling miles. However, Goodyear will work
with us and the teams to make things better. They always have.”
Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark weighed into the fray,
saying he already spoke with a top Goodyear official, Stu Grant, to
let him know the track is available for as much testing as needed
before the Oct. 26 race.
“We will do everything possible from our end to help make sure
that we have the best tire compound available when the Sprint Cup
teams return this fall,” Clark said.
Stewart isn’t optimistic.
“If that’s what we’ve got to look forward to, weekends like
this, there will be a lot of drivers going into retirement a lot
earlier, because nobody’s going to want to keep doing it like
this,” the outspoken star said.
“That was the most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my
professional career. Goodyear can’t build a tire that is worth a
crap.”