Revamped Goodyear tires pass initial test at Atlanta (cont'd)

"The main thing is, the cars are more predictable and they're responsive to the changes they make," Grant said. "I think what we had in the spring was a right-side tire that was hard enough that it was difficult for the guys to get the feel of the car. They tried to make changes and it didn't really seem to affect it. They couldn't predict what was going to happen, one way or the other.

"Now we've got a tire that if you talk to them, they say, 'Yeah, the car is loose. We can make a change and I can feel the change.' I'm really pleased with what we're seeing after the first two sessions."

Other drivers in the Chase were looking forward to seeing how the new tire combination would do under race conditions.

"They said this tire on the right side is a little softer and should add more grip," Earnhardt said. "I think that is a good thing. We definitely didn't have grip here last time so a softer, a grippier tire is going to help us a lot even if wears out and gets real, real slick late in the run.

"That's OK. You just want a little bit of grip to go racing there for at least 25-30 laps. A softer tire should do that."

Jeff Burton said the lack of grip is one of the things that makes racing at Atlanta unique.

"Obviously Goodyear has brought a different tire than what we had in the spring so we're going to have to get adjusted to that," Burton said. "I always think this is one of the most fun races of the year because it just gets so slick and control gets really low and I think that's fun."

There are three characteristics of Atlanta Motor Speedway that cause the grip to go away quicker than at other venues on the Sprint Cup circuit, according to Grant.

"One, it's really fast. Two, you're in a corner all the time. If you look at the configuration of the racetrack, you're in a corner nearly the whole time. And three, it's very abrasive," Grant said. "All of those things combined give you some nice grip for a few initial laps, and then the grip is going to fall off."