Stewart hot with Goodyear after Newman's tire pops (cont'd)

"This one is junk," said Newman, nodding toward his wrecked machine. "The right-rear tire exploded in the middle of [Turns] 1 and 2 there. It gave me maybe 100 yards of a sign that it might. It started with the very, very slightest vibration. I was getting ready to come in and it was too late.

"It was just unfortunate. We took out my teammate. I don't even know who else was caught up in it. I'm just disappointed in the situation Goodyear has put us in. ... It is ridiculous the situation we are in with these tires."

Stewart, who will now use the car that he drove in the Budweiser Shootout in the 500, was even more furious with Goodyear.

"It's just frustrating because the gold-and-blue down there [where Goodyear is located in the Daytona garage] are the cause of another deal," Stewart said. "I'm just so tired of talking about Goodyear, it's ridiculous. I'm just over it."

But, of course, he wasn't really over it. He was just getting warmed up. Asked about the fact that Goodyear recalled a small batch of eight tires for further inspection in Saturday's final practice, Stewart added: "Apparently, it wasn't enough.

"Apparently this is their marketing strategy to get press. I'm just tired of talking about them, tired of them being an issue. And us talking about them right now isn't going to change anything because it falls on deaf ears and won't change."

Stewart said he didn't blame Newman in any way for the incident, which means both Stewart-Haas cars will be forced to start from the rear of the field Sunday.

"It wasn't his fault," Stewart said of Newman.

Stewart also said he took no comfort from the fact that his Shootout car was good enough to finish third in that event, reminding reporters that "we haven't really gotten any time in it except when it was really cold and in the dark." Sunday's race will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, in full daylight.

Asked if he still has a chance to win the 500, Stewart bristled and replied: "I don't know, rocket scientist. I'm sitting here with a backup car. What do you think?"

Stu Grant, Goodyear's director of worldwide racing, insisted that his company has brought a competent tire to Daytona and that Newman's blowout Saturday simply was the result of running over some debris on the track that punctured the tire in question. He confirmed that Newman had complained about wear on a right-rear tire during his Gatorade Duel last Thursday, but insisted that was a different issue altogether.

"That was a severe wear issue -- part of the tread [was] worn down to the belts in the right-rear during the race Thursday," Grant said. "The tread is intact on the tire that failed [Saturday]. You can see a clear puncture through the tread and the belt package. The tread is still intact and this incident bears no resemblance to the one that happened on Thursday."

Grant insisted that Newman's Saturday blowout was caused by "a foreign object that came off one of the cars, adding: "It's obviously something that was on the race track. It could have been something that had fallen off one of the cars ahead of him. It could have been something that laid on the pavement for a while, and as the cars went by it moved it to a configuration where it could puncture a tire. We see a lot of those kinds of cases."

Another Goodyear spokesman confirmed that eight tires were pulled -- one each from eight different teams -- for inspection following some complaints the tire company received from teams after Thursday's Gatorade Duel races. Of those, two were considered fine, the official said.

Grant strongly defended the tire Saturday. "I honestly feel really good about our tire performance. I'm very happy with the tire we brought here," he said. "It's a good-performing tire, a good-wearing tire. It allows the drivers to adjust the car and improve the handling. I think they've got a few tools now to set the car up. And honestly, overall, I'm very pleased.

"Certainly when you have a puncture, an air loss like that, people are going to ask, 'What was that?' ... Certainly [Stewart is] frustrated, and I think that's what you hear in his comments."

Grant said he understood Stewart's anger "as a race car driver and car owner" and pledged to talk with him when the time was right. But Stewart made it sound like he wanted nothing to do with that meeting of the minds.

"Don't get them anywhere near me," Stewart said when asked if he had spoken to any Goodyear officials. "Don't bring them anywhere close; don't let them come close. I don't want anything to do with them."