Tony Stewart Baffled With Goodyear
Saturday, March 8th, 2008 12:04pm CST
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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Tony Stewart may as well have been using one of my favorite Dave Chappelle quotes.
Goodyear is f**kin’ up!
Tony just doesn’t understand it. Why does Goodyear overcompensate on the tires?
In an actual praise of the weather, being thankful that it’s cold enough at Atlanta today to compensate for Goodyear’s incompetence with their tire selection, Tony commented that the garage is just trying to get through the weekend.
Goodyear has changed up the overall composition and construction of the left side tires to provide more grip, but at the same time they’ve increased the hardness of the right side tire compound which removes grip.
It was also explained, and something I was unaware of, that Goodyear is bringing the same tires (at least for the right side) for both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series to use. In doing so, they went with a compromise where the right side tire is good for the Nationwide side, and something the Cup side “can live with”.
Tony Stewart made the remark that when you stroke a check big enough to NASCAR, you can have free reign with your product selection, even when that selection is junk.
Atlanta hasn’t been recently paved. It’s been 10 years, actually, so what is the deal here?
Bobby Labonte tested for Goodyear at Atlanta back in December, so what’s going on with this?
Are the engineers at Goodyear not competent enough to remember that during such a test the racetrack will be green, and therefore wear the tires a little harder than on a competition weekend? I’d like to think that’s not the case.
Are they overly paranoid of right side tire failures on the intermediate tracks?
Are they being cheap, and trying to get by with using the same thing all weekend?
Then again could it be that Tony’s lacking something in his car and laying out a case just in case his run at Atlanta, which happens to be the HQ of his sponsor Home Depot, is less than spectacular? Could it be a little bit of both circumstances? I will note that Tony Stewart typically runs quite well at Atlanta, and one could expect that whatever the circumstances he will adapt and overcome.
Tony Stewart has typically been the first driver to speak out about tires during a given weekend. Does the rest of the garage feel similar about the tire selection by Goodyear?
What bothers me most about these comments is this. These types of tracks make up the bulk of the NASCAR schedule. I’m also concerned because the next track of this type on the schedule is Texas Motor Speedway.
It’s been on again, off again for racing at the 1.5mile oval. At times the show is good, but at other times the show has been less than spectacular.
If you combine the elements of the new car, this apparent tire issue, and past history you’re heading into a big unknown for Texas Motor Speedway. If one were in the shoes of Eddie Gossage it would have to be at least a small concern in the back of your mind. It’s an SMI track, and the facilities are absolutely top notch. However, being the home track of Thunder Lounge, we can’t help but to be on pins and needles a little bit in regards to the show.
Last fall was a battle between Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson late in the the goings, and highlighted the quality of racing capable at the track. On the other hand, they have been many a strung out parade as well.
With that all taken into consideration, flip a coin. Head it’ll be a show, tails it will be a parade. That’s about as close to a prediction as you’re going to get. With the new car, competition should be much closer. Thus you could conclude that the parade won’t necessarily be a factor. On the other hand, with the tire issue being complained about by Tony Stewart, it could turn into a conservative “make it through the weekend” type of race.
Whatever the case may be, we hope the issues being complained of this weekend won’t be an issue when NASCAR returns to The Great American Speedway, leaving the show in the competitors hands.
Filed Under: Atlanta, Drivers, Joe Gibbs Racing #20, Nascar, Sprint Cup, Teams, Texas, Tony Stewart, Tracks
Tagged As: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Goodyear, Hotlanta, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Texas Motor Speedway, The Great American Speedway, Tire Issues, Tony Stewart
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