Tire tests at NASCAR tracks by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the exclusive supplier of tires for NASCAR’s top three series, are fairly routine events, but last week’s test at Atlanta Motor Speedway appears to be different.
The one-day test, which was closed to the media, had an unusually large number of teams participating — 13 instead of the usual four or five — and apparently testing was done on a new type of racing tire.
Instead of having technology developed in racing transferred to street vehicles, the reverse is true in this case, according to a release from Goodyear.
The new right-side tire tested being prepared for the AdvoCare 500 race will utilize “zone tread technology,” which means that it will have multiple tire compounds in the same tire. It will combine a compound used recently at Michigan International Speedway that will help control heat on the inner half of the tread with a compound used in earlier AMS races to give the cars more grip. The left-side tires are the same as the ones used in last year’s race at Atlanta.
The multiple-compound technology was first used by Goodyear in 2004 with its Assurance TripleTred passenger tire, which had three tread zones for wet, icy and dry conditions.
AMS’ worn asphalt, in use since 1997, has been tough on tires for years, but drivers generally like racing on it because the slipping and sliding brought about by the tire wear puts more emphasis on driving skill. Now the new compound offers another wrinkle, not just for AMS, but for other tracks on the circuit.
“Goodyear has done a good job of kind of rewriting their book on how they construct tires to try to compensate for some of the ways that this style of stock car punishes it,” said defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski, one of the drivers who participated in the test. “The science behind it and the technique behind it has the potential, I feel like, to revolutionize the sport and fight a lot of the issues that we’re facing from a competition side.
“I’m extremely optimistic, and I think that’s going to be a big step for our sport. … I think they’ve just found a good balance between speed, grip, fall-off, and safety.”
Undeterred by injury: Sprint Cup driver Kasey Kahne said on one of this week's NASCAR teleconferences that Tony Stewart's injury in a sprint-car crash won't keep him from racing sprint cars in the future. But he said it will make him and others in the industry think about ways to make the lightweight, open-wheel dirt cars safer.
“There’s got to be some ways we can prevent what happened to Tony or try to prevent it,” he said of Stewart’s broken leg. “It just all kind of fell against him in those certain circumstances, got his leg.
“I think all the teams can learn from that. I know Tony is going to be a big part of trying to make that better, as well. I think we’ll try to make our stuff better from what we can learn from Tony’s accident.”
Kahne also said that while he hasn’t driven a sprinter this year to focus on his Cup racing, Stewart’s accident isn’t a factor in his decision not to race sprint cars.
“No, it doesn’t really change myself wanting to race, any of that,” Kahne said. “It’s exactly the same as it was before he got in that wreck.”
Kahne not pleased: Kahne said he's peeved at fellow Cup driver Matt Kenseth after the two were involved in a wreck at Watkins Glen on Sunday. And it's not the first time the two have had issues this year.
“Matt has been pretty tough on me a lot this year,” Kahne said. “I would expect a little difference out of him, but you never know. We’ll see how it goes.”
Kahne said Kenseth texted him several times this week to apologize.
“I understand and I appreciate the texts,” Kahne said. “At the same time, we’re trying to get in the Chase. It hurts when you get wiped out when you’re minding your own business. It’s happened enough this year that I don’t know what I can do about it, but I definitely am not pleased.
“It’s really annoying and upsetting.”
