Teams struggle to match tires, new car at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Drivers favored the high line during Thursday's twin Daytona 500 qualifying races, and not because they enjoyed being inches from the wall. That was where they felt they could best save tires, another learning experience as Sprint Cup teams adjust to the new car at Daytona International Speedway.

A handful of drivers battled tire issues in the 150-mile events, including a dramatic blowout that doomed the Daytona 500 hopes of former open-wheeler Patrick Carpentier of Gillett Evernham Motorsports. His teammate Elliott Sadler suffered a pair of failures, with the tire tread partially separating in the first instance and completely coming off in the second.

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The new car, competing at Daytona for the first time this Speedweeks, features more right-side weight and creates more downforce, which produces a tremendous load on the right-front on a fast track like Daytona. Goodyear officials don't except a repeat of Thursday's events in Sunday's 50th running of the Daytona 500, by which time the track should gain more traction and teams should learn from experience.

"I think it's people trying to figure out what the right setup is for the new racecar," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. "We're still working on that. Some guys have had issues early on, and they've worked through it."

But Thursday, on a track made green by days of rain, some drivers clearly struggled. Even with the smaller fuel cell used on restrictor-plate tracks, it was an effort to get to the first pit stop and change tires. During the races, drivers found the low groove to be unstable, and clustered around the concrete wall. Brian Vickers won't be surprised if the same strategy is used Sunday.

"The reason cars go up top like that is because of the tires. They're sliding around, they're loose, moving around so much they can use that wall to kind of help with the air. It's a little bit easier on the tires, and that does change the strategy of the race," said Vickers, who qualified with an 11th-place finish in the first 150-miler.

"You're going to have to do most of your passing on new tires. What's going to happen, you're going to see guys go crazy when they get stickers on, trying to make as many moves as they possibly can because they know they only have a very short period of time to do it in. As soon as that time is up, it's going to be single file up around the top. You're just going to be conserving your tires, not wanting to be the first guy to lose one, so you can pit and get tires when the caution comes out."

The condition of the racing surface, Vickers said, doesn't help.

"This track is worn out," he added. "I mean, it's great. It's a lot of fun to drive on. But I think that people forget that hey, it's Daytona. Hold it wide open. Listen, this place feels like Darlington sometimes, or Atlanta. It is wore out. I feel bad for Goodyear, having to make a tire come in here doing 200 mph. This place is like Darlington. So the track's getting worse. Goodyear is doing the best job they can, a great job keeping up with it. This year, I don't know, maybe it's the cars. Maybe it's the rain we've had. It does seem to be a little worse."

Maybe it's a little of both. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it's not uncommon to have tire issues this early in Speedweeks, a fact that should change as more race action lays more rubber into the track. But he agrees that saving tires is shaping up to be more difficult than past years, likely because of the new car.

"I would say that this car makes it a bit more challenging," said Earnhardt, who won the first race. "After 20 laps, it was definitely more challenging to drive the car, even running up front and high. You're correcting the car, sliding the right-rear into the corner, backing into the fence, into the entrance of every corner. It gets a little loose off, too."

Goodyear expects improvement with time. "It's just going to continue to get better as the weekend goes on, as guys get more and more practice time in the race setup," Stucker said. "They'll start trying some things to get a better setup under the car, knowing what happened today and making adjustments. We'll just keep working with them and making suggestions."