NSCS: Goodyear Attributes Texas Tire Issues to Contact, Debris, and Aggressive Set-Ups

Throughout the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, plenty of the drivers would have tire issues that would range from causing serious damage to their racecar, or a simple minor hamper on their day that they eventually overcame in the laps following. Goodyear’s Director of Racing Greg Strucker said post-race that the tire issues weren’t the fault of the manufacture, but as a result of a combination issues for drivers.

“I think it’s a number of different things, but they’ve happened pretty quickly,” Strucker said. “I think more so is because we haven’t been running on the track as much. Texas is an abrasive race track and we just haven’t been putting a lot of rubber on.”

Joey Logano suffered the first tire issue at lap 10, resulting in a 40th place finish. With the issue happening very early in the race, Strucker said that it tells them that either it was caused by a rub from the bodywork, or due to being aggressive on air pressure.

Strucker said that issues like Logano’s and others due to either bodywork rubbing or aggressive set-ups were brought forth in the race due to the lack of practice, as both practices on Saturday got rained out.

“”Guys are always pushing the envelope and take advantage of everything,” he commented. “That’s a lot of things that you see in practice – you do it early on and start dialing back. Obviously, they didn’t have the ability to do that.”

There were other drivers who suffered the same type of fate, but all the tire issues weren’t caused by that single issue. Kevin Harvick’s pair of flat tires, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s flat tire were as a result of punctures due to debris on the track.

“There was debris everywhere,” Harvick commented post-race. “The first caution, they just blew all of the debris down to the inside wall. It seemed like a lot of people were hitting the wall and there was a lot of stuff out there today. It was definitely interesting with all the tire problems.”

Fortunately, both Harvick and Earnhardt were able to finish in the top-six despite their issues.

Goodyear has run this tire combination in the past at Texas Motor Speedway and at Chicagoland Speedway, and plans to run this combination at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.