It wasn’t the only time Tony Stewart has been at odds with Goodyear over the tires it brought to a Sprint Cup race, but the rant he went on before, during and after last spring’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway was certainly one of his most passionate.
So now, one year later, with Goodyear having brought a new tire to run in this Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at AMS, does Stewart expect many of the same old problems? He hopes not, but didn’t sound quite convinced one way or the other at the track on Friday.
Stewart and several other Cup drivers also said that their greater concern these days is more specifically with the track at AMS, which they say makes it difficult for Goodyear to bring a tire that will offer them the better grip they seek.
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“I think there are parts of it that are better,” Stewart said of the new tire. “I think the track is getting to the point where it’s fallen off worse than what the tires are. We don’t have a ton of grip, but I don’t know that there is any solution for that, really.”
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“It’s a split-personality race track,” Burton said. “In qualifying, it’s fast. In the race, it’s very slick with very low grip.”
Denny Hamlin admitted after the first round of practices that he had not been able to get a handle on his car yet.
“The tire is extremely loose. We can’t really get ahold of the tire here,” Hamlin said. “They said it was going to have a whole lot more grip, but it’s a lot slicker than I remember. We have to just work on getting it right here.”
David Reutimann experienced the same problems.
“I think with the tire configuration right now, it just seems like our car is sliding around a lot. We need to get on the other side of it and make it not do that,” Reutimann said.
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