Joe Nemechek finished 28th after a flat tire ruined his day. Credit: AP

Flat tires take their toll on teams at Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- There were more tire problems at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, and Michelin wasn't involved in any of them.

Crew chief Ryan Pemberton looks over a tire that came from Nemechek's car. Credit: AP

Goodyear tires on at least eight cars went flat during the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Most of the problems were on the left front, including one that caused heavy damage to the front bodywork on Joe Nemechek's car from the shredded rubber.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Jeff Green apparently ran over bolts protruding from the track's rumble strips, Michael Waltrip had a cut in his tire tread, and Jason Leffler appeared to lose tire pressure.

Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte had problems on the right front. Johnson's tire blew on Lap 146 when he crashed hard into the fourth turn wall.

He was taken to the hospital for precautionary evaluation. Track officials said Johnson was awake and alert.

ALLSTATE 400 •   Results •   Standings •   Lap-by-Lap Coverage Tough luckDale Jr. spins on restart and causes several cars to pile up Bad to worseJimmie Johnson spins then has troubles on pit row Allstate 400Get all the highlights from Tony Stewart's victory at Indy Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Pole-winner Elliott Sadler also had a flat in the closing laps.

"Was it overabused? Anything like that? We don't know that," Labonte said. "The problem was we had a tire go down, whatever happened. ... They've got analysts out there to figure it out."

Goodyear, the sole tire supplier for the series, had 21 left fronts go flat during the last Cup race at Pocono two weeks ago.

All were attributed either to going over rumble strips, not having enough tire pressure or using a suspension that put too much pressure on the tires. But Goodyear officials were satisfied they would hold up on Indianapolis' new track surface.

"We tested at Indianapolis with Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman in late April," Goodyear engineer Mark Keto said. "We found that the new track surface is very fast with a lot of grip, so we have a tire combination unique to Indy."

Seven Formula One teams using Michelin tires pulled out of the U.S. Grand Prix in June after the tiremaker said the high speeds, especially in the final turn, were unsafe.

Goodyear brought 2,800 Eagle Speedway radial tires to the Brickyard, however, with different specifications for the left- and right-side tires. No other Nextel Cup track uses this combination.

"Compared to last year, this setup features new compounds on both sides, as well as a new left-side construction," Keto said. "Recently, we also attended all three pre-race team test sessions to monitor performance of the new setup, and it performed very well."

A year ago, before the 2.5-mile track was resurfaced, at least a dozen cars had tire problems in the NASCAR race.