Goodyear: No Rash Decisions
NASCAR tyre company Goodyear have promised not to make any rash decisions in the wake of the spate of failures suffered at last weekend's Pocono 500
More than 20 tyres deflated during the race but Goodyear have vowed to study all the data before any consideration is given to changing the compound scheduled to be used again at the next Nextel Cup race Pocono, on July 24.
Leading runners Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin suffered tyre problems at the event. Martin lost a possible top three finish after a flat tyre on the final lap. However, a post race meeting with representatives of NASCAR and Goodyear decided there was no single reason for the punctures.
Goodyear refuted speculation that a switch to a compound than had not been run at the track before was behind the problems. The compound used has previously been run at Las Vegas, and is scheduled to be run at Bristol and again at Pocono later this season.
Goodyear Nextel Cup product manager Rich Heinrich said: "We were just reviewing what happened, trying to get together and to get all the facts sorted out. It's premature right now to say we'd go back to a tyre we used here previously. We're still sorting out the facts."
Drivers Ricky Rudd and Scott Riggs were vocal in their criticism of Goodyear.
Rudd said: "I've been coming here a long time and I haven't ever seen anything like that. They came on the radio and said 'Don't hit the curbs.' I usually get to the curb, but I don't hit it. I stayed two feet away from the curbs and we still blew three tires after that. That was sort of a lame excuse, really."
Riggs said: "I don't know why we brought a different tyre here in the first place. I don't know what was wrong with the tyre before. Nobody knew they were going to pave a patch over the Tunnel Turn, there were big rough bumps and the tyres would actually leave the ground over there. Then you had a new tyre that you had never had here before and not many people came here and tested."
Kahne's crew chief Tommy Baldwin, however, defended the tyre company. He said: "It was pretty much self-inflicted - it had nothing to do with Goodyear. We were low on air. It's a different tyre than last year, and those lower air pressures weren't right for this tyre."
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