HAMPTON, Ga. -- Preliminary results are in, and it appears both NASCAR teams and Goodyear officials are pleased with the performance of the new, slightly softer tire compound being used this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

After two full practice sessions Saturday in conditions that will be very close to those for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500, Goodyear general manager of worldwide racing Stu Grant said the tire compound selected after a pair of tire tests at the speedway is a significant improvement over the tire that caused so much consternation back in the spring.

"I was really pleased with the initial reactions of these guys," Grant said. "We're seeing things right now that we saw in our tire test here, which means we've been able to give the guys a little more grip."

Denny Hamlin, who suffered the hardest hit three weeks ago at Talladega when a cut tire -- one of several that day -- put him hard into the wall, was happy with what he saw Saturday.

"I didn't get to do either of the tire tests here, but this new tire is pretty good," Hamlin said. "It's a lot better than what we had here in the past. The control is a lot more than what we've seen in the past. I definitely think that they did a good job picking out a softer tire to give us a little more grip, and I'm glad they did."

Carl Edwards' initial reaction was also positive.

"It seemed like the tire had a ton of grip and you could drive the car pretty hung out," Edwards said. "It wasn't a real hard-feeling tire. I felt like I could get the tire real sideways and drag that tire around, so I hope that tire wear is not an issue.

"I'm a little nervous about it just because it's a change. I guess they had Kyle [Busch] here testing or something and I'm sure he ran some really hard laps, so I hope it holds up and I hope it works out. They didn't have tire failures, I believe, the last time we were here, people just didn't like the tire so it makes me a little nervous that they changed it."

Grant said crews in the garage area want a tire compound that will allow them to correctly determine what will happen when they make changes to the handling of their cars -- and that wasn't necessarily the case in March. (Continued)