Goodyear completes Indy, Chicago and Kentucky tests

With its at-track session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past Monday and Tuesday, Goodyear completed a busy stretch of testing in preparation for this summer's NASCAR schedule. Participating in the test at Indianapolis were Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart. "Our test speeds were extremely fast at Indianapolis," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of racing. "Like a lot of race tracks we've been to this year with this new car package, it appears the race pace can be significantly faster than it's been in the past. Because of that, we have to make sure we come back with a recommendation that is robust enough for the conditions we'll have in the race. "The weather conditions during the test were exactly what we have to come to expect during the race weekend in late July -- pushing 90 degrees and sunny. That enabled us to evaluate the tires we brought under the proper conditions." More than the weather conditions, the race conditions always conspire to make the Brickyard 400 one that is high up on Goodyear's radar. "The thing about Indianapolis is the tough conditions the cars -- and the tires -- have to endure," said Stucker. "The surface is very abrasive, the long straightaways and short chutes are fast, cornering is tough with very little banking. Combine that with this new car package, and you've got conditions that put a lot of stress on the tires."
In spite of some of the speeds where teams were consistently running a half-second faster in race trim than in the past, the test was problem free outside of one incident with the Stewart Haas Racing car of Tony Stewart. On day two of the test, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion had a right-front tire lose air 17 laps into a 20-lap run. "Tony was approaching the end of a very strong 20-lap run, with his lap times as much as a second faster than what has become the norm at Indianapolis at that point of a run. It appears that increased, sustained speed over that run generated a significant amount of heat, which eventually caused the right-front to go down. Those are the conditions we have to consider in making the right decisions for the race." Goodyear will continue to talk to the Indianapolis test teams and review the data from the session to come up with its final recommendation over the next week.
Over recent weeks, Goodyear also completed tests at Chicagoland Speedway (June 10-11) and Kentucky Speedway (May 20-21). At Chicagoland, Goodyear confirmed its expectations and will bring a race recommendation that includes the same left-side tire it ran at that track last season and the multi-zone tread right-side that was run at Texas earlier this season. Handling the test at Chicagoland were Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Paul Menard.
At Kentucky, Goodyear ran a true confirmation test and will race the same combination of left- and right-side tires they ran at that track in 2013. Running at the Kentucky test were Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray and Brian Vickers.
Goodyear continues its testing program with sessions at Richmond International Raceway on July 8-9 and Homestead-Miami Speedway on August 26.(Goodyear Racing)