HAMPTON, Ga. -- Asked following Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway if Goodyear took a step in the right direction with the type of tire it brought to the 1.54-mile track, driver Ryan Newman pulled no punches.

"No, we blew tires," he said bluntly. "Last time here, we didn't blow tires."

“

Overall, I'm very happy with the tire -- because they're fast, the drivers are comfortable, and it's a nice, racy setup. If the cars are set up well, the tire works just fine.

”

-- STU GRANT, GOODYEAR

And Newman was far from alone, as several cars suffered blown tires or shredded tires throughout the day.

But Stu Grant -- whose title is general manager of world-wide racing, Goodyear -- insisted his company brought a good tire to the event at the facility that is notoriously hard on them. He said the onus was on the teams to understand how to manage their tires, and that those who did experienced few or no problems. Others who pushed too hard on their tires, especially early, paid a price for it and suffered dire consequences.

"It's a handling and setup-related situation. It's something they can control, and they just need to do that," Grant said. "Overall, I'm very happy with the tire -- because they're fast, the drivers are comfortable, and it's a nice, racy setup. If the cars are set up well, the tire works just fine.

"We saw a number of punctures early on. But we saw some guys who were pretty aggressive in their setups."

Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, agreed with Grant.

"I think we've put the pressure on Goodyear to bring tires to the track that will produce better racing, and I think you saw that [Sunday]," Pemberton said. "The grip level was better, the speed level was better, the passing was better. At some point in time, you know, it takes some teams more time than others to adjust to it -- and they have to take some stake in it and adjust accordingly to where they won't abuse the tires.

"We saw that with some of the teams. But all in all, we felt like Goodyear did a good job [Sunday] with bringing a good tire." (Continued)