17 Cup drivers participate in two-day Goodyear tire test at Daytona
JTG Daugherty Racing's Marcos Ambrose takes part in a two-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goodyear tire test on Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway.
// Jerry Markland, NASCAR Scene
Seventeen drivers with 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup teams participated in a two-day Goodyear tire test Monday and Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway.
The drivers were testing rear tire compounds for the manufacturer.
Drivers participating in the session were Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan; Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove both of his organization's cars in the session; Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr.; Penske Racing's Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. and Brad Keselowski; Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch; Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann; JTG Daugherty Racing's Marcos Ambrose; Furniture Row Racing's Regan Smith; Richard Petty Motorsports' AJ Allmendinger; Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed; Hall of Fame Racing's Erik Darnell; Yates Racing's Paul Menard and Phoenix Racing's Sterling Marlin.
The drivers participated in the runs of 15, 20 and 30 laps and worked in drafting groups to get a true feel for the tire.
“The sequence has been to try as many sets of tires as we can and do it in a simulation with the drafting,” Kurt Busch said. “When you run two or three cars by themselves in a simulation draft, it just doesn't do it justice until you really push everybody out there together to get cars sliding, to have some cars pushing, have some cars on the loose side, and it really gives us a good indication of what changes we're making on the tires when we have such a big draft.
“Everybody has been very cordial just going through the process and running primarily double wide, been a couple of three wides, but that's just one guy decided he wanted to be in front of the other one. It's helping Goodyear move forward with the best race tires possible for the Daytona 500 next year. All in all, it has been very positive. There’ve been some blisters, there've been some cords showing on some tires, but we've steered away from those. We eliminated that, and they've regrouped and brought back another set.”
Busch said that he was impressed with the turnout in a tire test that invited all teams to participate.
“We don't see many Hendrick cars here; we don't see some of the other top runners,” Busch said. "It almost feels like a 150 [qualifying race]. You have half the group out on the track, but yet you only have 18. Still it gives us 18 data points on each of the runs that we make."
McMurray, fresh off his win at Talladega Superspeedway, said that having so many cars at the session helped with the data and getting the best possible tire for the 2010 season-opening Daytona 500.
“We came here in May and they made the restrictor plates bigger to simulate the same lap times as what we do in the draft, and that didn't show the same wear,” McMurray said. “The fact that they brought so many cars here this time, I think we have 16 cars doing a draft at a time. The cars are not driving really that good. They are sliding around a lot and Goodyear is able to get a lot more accurate data by having so many cars here.”
