Track Smack: DEI, Petty face some driver drama (cont'd)

3. The tires Goodyear will use this week at Texas will be the same ones used there last year. But after what we saw at Atlanta, should we be prepared for more driver complaints?

Joe Menzer: Of course. Drivers love to complain. And apparently in the case of the tires at Atlanta, they had every right to.

David Caraviello: OK, I'm not a tire guy. But it seemed coming out of Atlanta that as many people blamed the new car as they did the tire. So I wouldn't be shocked if we had dudes getting squirrelly again this week.

Can someone please explain sidewall deflection?

Dave Rodman: It seems to me, in someone's pre-weekend quote package, I saw a note that they are using the same tire, with a stiffer sidewall. I think none of us are that technically capable of completely deciphering that, but it might be a step in the right direction with these new cars.

David Caraviello: So if we have issues like we did in Atlanta, and the tire is out of the equation, then guys like Chad Knaus and Kurt Busch who pointed at the new car all along might just be proven correct.

Joe Menzer: Listen, I don't understand the tire thing all that well, either. I'm hoping Roadman, who was around when tires were still made of stone, can explain it to all of us. As a matter of fact, did y'all see Roadman in those new Bud Light commercials? He's the guy who invented the wheel they use to get the beer to the party!

Dave Rodman: Joe, that's brilliance! The tires on Fred Flintstone's flintmobile would certainly reduce sidewall deflection -- but you'd need 20 tankers of coke syrup to gum up the track enough to get any grip!

Joe Menzer: See, I knew he knew tires!

David Caraviello: I love it when Rodman talks sidewall deflection.

Dave Rodman: The flintmobile had about as much downforce as these new cars do.

Joe Menzer: Wouldn't more sidewall deflect give the Roush cars more of the torsional deflection they're looking for in their front sway bars?

David Caraviello: If their front sway bars aren't stolen, that is.

Dave Rodman: I've heard they're working on an application to array 100 high-tech sway bars entirely around the exterior of the car -- you know, the "centipede effect."

David Caraviello: Ah, the centipede effect. Of course. Is that anything like the butterfly effect? Or was that a bad Kevin Costner movie?

Joe Menzer: In all seriousness, does it really matter whether it's the new car to blame for the tires not working, or vice versa? If these tires don't work on this car, don't they have to start coming up with ones that will?

Dave Rodman: Of course, they'd have to be shod with something, so that brings us right back around in the circle to Goodyear -- so probably best to leave well enough alone. They're working hard on rectifying this, because grippy tires and good racing works best for everyone.

Joe Menzer: I should say if these tires don't work at certain tracks, too, because on others the combination seems fine.

Dave Rodman: Well, if you want to wrack your brain or exercise your mouse, you could find instances of worse and better tire performances. It's a never-ending cycle.

David Caraviello: I think it does matter if it's the new car. If these tire problems are stemming from setup issues, as Goodyear intimates so many of them do ... but then it becomes a case of, who do you believe? The tire supplier or the driver?

Dave Rodman: And like I've always said, that's why they call it "racing" -- whoever masters the conditions on a given day, which probably means working the hardest and bitching the least -- wins.

David Caraviello: Which could make things more entertaining to watch.

Dave Rodman: Exactly. That was kind of why Atlanta wasn't all bad. I almost felt like Kyle Busch should have gotten some kind of double points for the way he handled that whole scenario.

Joe Menzer: I may have to go soon. My head is starting to hurt. I might have a touch of the torsional effect.

David Caraviello: Do they give you a shot for that?

Joe Menzer: I will have to get an appointment with Dr. Jack Roush.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writers.