General Discussion » What is really wrong with Dale Jr
Only JR knows. He's always said he does not like the COT car. And I think that is stuck in his head. Eventually he will get it and accept it. ( I HOPE ).
Goodyear critic Stewart lauds tire company's choice of Darlington rubber
By SceneDaily Staff
Saturday, May 10, 2008
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Vocal Goodyear critic Tony Stewart had only nice things to say Friday about the tire manufacturer’s choice for the newly repaved Darlington Raceway.
Stewart was harsh about Goodyear after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this year and has been a thorn in Goodyear’s side after other races. But Stewart praised the company for bringing the right tire for the 1.366-mile Darlington track.
“The tires are good for here,” Stewart said after Nationwide Series qualifying Friday. “It’s not the scary deal that we’ve had in the past, like we’ve had at Vegas. I’m proud of what Goodyear did, taking the extra time that they did, running a second test here to make the tires good.”
Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon did the initial Goodyear tire test at Darlington, but no one was satisfied with the tires, so Goodyear scheduled another test with the same drivers.
Stewart also praised track officials for the repaving job, though the new surface does present problems.
“They did a great job with it,” Stewart said. “The challenge this week is the fact that it’s still Darlington. It’s still only two lanes wide, period. The way turns 1 and 2 are, you’ve got to go to the high side, then back to the bottom and back to the high side, so running two-wide is hard to do here. You could do it in 3 and 4, but you really can’t do it in 1 and 2.
“The track did a great job. It’s good. If we could make it to where we could have the same amount of rubber all the way across the race track, we probably wouldn’t have the problems that we’re going to see tonight. But all in all, they did a great job.”
Over time, Stewart said, the groove will widen and drivers won’t have similar problems, especially in turns 1 and 2.
“Look where the groove is and look where the rubber on the race track is,” Stewart said. “Those spots where the track gets kinda tight, one side or the other doesn’t have rubber on it, so it’s not conducive to two-wide running right now. That’s just something that time will take care of. It’s so fast that if you have to run those lines, it’s going to make it hard to pass.
"It was that way when it was old pavement, and it’s that way now that it’s new. But it’ll get better as time goes on.”
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