Goodyear Credits Awareness

When NASCAR raced at the 2.5 mile Superspeedway in June, more than 20 tyres failed, damaging the race of many leading championship contenders. However only six cars had tyre failures at last weekend's Pennsylvania 500.

After the race in June, Goodyear rejected speculation that a switch to a new compound for the meeting contributed to the failures and stuck with the same tyre, only recommending a small increase in pressures on the left side.

Greg Stucker, director of race tyre sales and marketing, said: "Everything went much better than in the June race, and the difference was the awareness.

"We went into this thing with the same tyre, as a joint decision between Goodyear and NASCAR, and teams were aware of the consequences of running the wrong set-ups in their cars.

"Most of then adjusted and did much better, although a few who didn't were bitten. We recommended a minimum of 19 psi on the left-side tyres, up one pound from June.

"Overall, we made sure the teams were aware, we took tyre temperatures and worked closely with them. NASCAR was pleased with Sunday's tyre performance."