Indy tire test to include at least 11 drivers; Bristol tire change likely
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The tire Goodyear used at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be getting a second look – for races at Indianapolis as well as Bristol.
Goodyear will test at both tracks prior to the next NASCAR events at the two facilities.
The Indianapolis test will feature 12-13 teams and is scheduled for April 20-21, said Goodyear NASCAR program manager Greg Stucker.
Drivers already confirmed for that test are David Reutimann, Kyle Busch and Scott Speed (Toyota); Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth (Ford); Brad Keselowski (Dodge); and Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Regan Smith (Chevrolet). Virtually every racing organization has been invited to send a representative to the test, compared with the typical four invitations that go out for other tire tests.
The 2008 race at IMS was marred by tire problems that forced NASCAR to throw the caution every 10-12 laps to allow teams to change tires.
“We want to have plenty of cars there to rubber in the race track, just like we did with the package last year,” Stucker said Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. “We want to see if the track changed at all over the winter. Last year’s tire will be our baseline.
“I think everybody was very, very happy with the way the tire performed in ’09, but we’re always looking at new ideas and maybe something will show up that will be slight improvement.”
Stucker said he didn’t anticipate a major change to the Indy tire.
“We’ve tested enough at other places and have found some gains in other areas that we want to try at Indianapolis as well,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s right. We promised people we were going to get it right, and we are going to make sure we keep it right.”
The tire that was used at Indy last year worked well enough that Goodyear thought that it would make a good combination for Bristol. Goodyear had the Truck Series and Nationwide Series use the tire last August and then opted for the Cup drivers to use it last weekend.
But the tire did not perform as well as anticipated and too many teams had heat issues in their right fronts, Stucker said.
“We saw a few more issues than we thought we would,” he said. “It worked very well last August [in Nationwide and Truck], and some issues showed up last weekend that we are trying to understand exactly what happened and why they happened. We feel like we need to go back and test and need to find some improvements.
“So the package as it is probably is not exactly what we need at Bristol. Some guys were fine and other guys had issues. We thought the window was a little too narrow. It was a little too sensitive. We need something that is probably a little more robust for Bristol.”
Goodyear likely will go to Bristol in June and also will go to Atlanta as well. Stucker said he didn’t expect to have a test at Daytona.
