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LONG POND, Pa. -- The story of NASCAR's growing tire concerns and its new car reads something like a Goldilocks fairy tale; the tires are either too hard or too soft, but recently, just the right fit is no where to be found.

Goodyear and NASCAR grossly missed the mark last weekend at the storied Indianapolis Motor Speedway and brought a sub-par tire that failed to "rubber in" the track and tires were wearing to the cords and blowing after an average of 13 laps.

The debacle has drivers still discussing the outcome and what is to be done moving forward: more off-track testing, additional research and development from Goodyear, full-field tire tests or changes made to the car are among some of the solutions drivers offered up at Pocono Raceway this weekend preparing for Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.

But the Brickyard hasn't been the only victim of poor tire compounds that arguably affect competition. Recall the March event at Atlanta Motor Speedway where drivers criticized Goodyear for bringing a too-hard tire compound that left Tony Stewart irate and Jeff Gordon feeling like he was going to crash nearly every lap.

NASCAR and Goodyear are in the process of trying to determine a more consistent compound that satisfies the new car's shape, weight and balance issues.

Two-time Cup champion and winner of last weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Jimmie Johnson, said time and a lot of additional testing could be the only fix.

"You can never underestimate how much testing helps," said Johnson, the fastest car in Friday's practice session, then again in qualifying. "We've got a different world today with this car and this is the first time we've run this car on these big tracks. There is 40-50 percent less downforce. The center of gravity is 5 inches higher. There are a lot of things that are promoting abuse to the tire. And it's just going to take us a while to sort it out."

His immediate solution: a softer left-side tire to take away two-tire stops and work more on two or three segments on lefts and just change rights.

"I think if the lefts are working harder it's going to help save the rights a little bit more. Yeah, it's going to bring the pace of the race up and then do you run into a new problem now that you're going faster and beating up the rights? There are a lot of questions to be answered, but I personally think having tires wear out is a good thing and we need to be wearing four out, not just the right sides," he added.

Jeff Burton, a Richard Childress Racing driver sitting third in the point standings, said the buck stops with Goodyear no matter the solution. (Continued)