 | | Tires have been a topic for concern at Lowe's Motor Speedway for more than a year now. Credit: Autostock |
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
April 5, 2006
10:33 PM EDT (02:33 GMT)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR officials are "guardedly optimistic'' that the latest tire developed by Goodyear will prevent a repeat of last year's caution-marred Nextel Cup races at newly paved Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I believe this tire will be unique to anything else that we've seen,'' said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition. Goodyear tested the tire on Tuesday, less than a week after initial tests showed more severe tire wear than there was at the October race in which there were an event-record 15 cautions, mostly for blown tires. Pemberton said the new tire is made of a harder compound that seems to wear better on the higher-than-normal speeds that are the result of the new surface. "They turned the factory upside down to answer the call of duty,'' he said of Goodyear. "They came back and designed a tire that was pretty tough. The drivers were happy. The speeds were still pretty good.'' Jerry Gappens, the senior vice president for events at LMS, said the new tire slowed the cars of Dale Jarrett and Kevin Harvick by nearly one second per lap -- or approximately 6 miles per hour. He said Harvick averaged around 180 mph in race trim. Last week, Bobby Labonte said his average speed in race trim was only three-tenths of a second slower than the qualifying record (193.219) mph that Elliott Sadler established in October. Track president H.A. "Humpy'' Wheeler expressed concern that speeds could reach 197 mph, making for unsafe and perhaps boring racing. Jimmie Johnson, who has won four consecutive races at LMS, had to cut his test short last week when a blown tire sent him into the wall barely 20 laps into the session. "Goodyear officials were a lot more optimistic after [Tuesday's] test than last week,'' Gappens said. "They brought a completely new tire and did not encounter the challenges they had last week with the higher speeds, excessive wear and higher tire temperature.'' Those were all problems that led to 37 cautions in two races a year ago after the surface was smoothed by a grinding process. Wheeler made the decision before the second race to repave the track completely. "They did a really good job with the new surface,'' Pemberton said. That doesn't mean NASCAR isn't making contingency plans if the tests take a turn for the worse during open Cup and Busch tests in early May. The annual all-star race is scheduled for May 20, followed by the Coca-Cola 600 on May 28. "We feel we're ready for anything that's thrown at us,'' said Pemberton, stopping short of suggesting NASCAR would force teams to use restrictor plates to slow speeds. "We've got a couple of different plans. "But from everything we've seen from the tire test, we're guardedly optimistic.'' | 
