Stewart hits out at Goodyear

For the two-time Cup champion, Toyota's first win of the season - achieved by Stewart's teammate Kyle Busch - was nowhere as significant as the lack of grip coming from the Goodyear tyres, which literally turned his afternoon into a handful.

"That's the worst tyre I've ever seen in my life in any professional form of racing," Stewart said after the race, before putting Goodyear's capability as a company into question.

"It doesn't take long. If you do your homework and look at when (Goodyear) exited Formula One and the IRL and CART and the World of Outlaws and USAC, you name it, all the other professional sports Goodyear's exited because they can't compete, they can't keep up.

"They don't have the technology, they don't have the people that are smart enough to build a tyre. This was pathetic today, to race like we raced today."

Stewart is frustrated because all the hard work done by the teams to find more grip and more speed on their cars is ultimately limited by the tyre selection that Goodyear makes for every race weekend.

"It's just a shame," he added. "The teams work so hard and spend so much money to compete and it's all dictated by a tyre company that's building tyres that aren't worth either on a street car.

"The first thing I'm doing when I get home is dismount anything I've got that's got Goodyears on it. I'm putting Firestones or something else so I feel a lot safer."

Before the race, Stewart had already criticized Goodyear, although it's not the first time he has done so.

Last year he spoke against the manufacturer's rubber at Las Vegas, and only last Sunday Stewart crashed hard at the very same venue after the right front tyre on his car blew up.