INDIANAPOLIS — Goodyear might have an answer for one of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s toughest challenges: softer tires.
As drivers took a break during Tuesday’s latest testing session at the speedway, NASCAR and Goodyear officials explained they had seen dramatic improvement in tire wear, prompting optimism they could avoid a repeat of the Allstate 400 debacle in July.
“We’re not all the way there, but we’re pretty close to it,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “We were in about an eight- or nine-lap window before (during testing), and that got up to 10, and now we’re in the mid-20 range. So it’s improved 300 percent already. We walked the track last night, and the track was taking on rubber, so that’s a good sign.”
Things got even better after Pemberton’s midday news conference.
Speedway officials said one driver made a 33-lap run on the tires and another put in a full fuel run, generally 35 to 40 laps on Indy’s 2.5-mile oval, before it started raining.
It was the second testing session at Indy since NASCAR officials were forced in July to turn one of the series’ signature races into a series of 10- to 12-lap sprints because of tire wear. NASCAR officials even apologized to fans for the fiasco.
The latest testing session comes in the midst of more tire questions for Goodyear.
Sunday’s race at Talladega was marred by four tire failures, and a fifth occurred during practice. One of the failures sent Denny Hamlin hard into the wall. He was hospitalized overnight before being released Monday.
Stu Grant, general manager of worldwide racing for Goodyear, said early assessments indicated all of the tires at Talladega were punctured, though they are still undergoing analysis, and Pemberton said he believes the problem had more to do with debris than tires.
“At Talladega, we went clean, then we had a few tires that lost air for a while and then we were clean again,” Pemberton said. “So my guess is there may have been debris on the track and it wasn’t all cleared off. But that’s just speculation.”
The problems at Talladega caused yet another image problem for Goodyear, the sole supplier of tires for NASCAR’s three series, after the disastrous race in July when NASCAR officials continually called competition cautions.
The longest stretch of green-flag racing at Indy lasted just 13 laps, and points leader Jimmie Johnson won the race in a seven-lap sprint to the finish. It was the second-slowest race in NASCAR’s 15-year history at Indy.
Mark Martin was among the dozen or so drivers at the track Monday and Tuesday, and saw a big difference in the tires.
“We just put 20 laps on these tires and that didn’t happen before,” said Martin, who won the pole at Indy this year. “What we got for the controlled test tire here is faster, it’s got great grip and it’s lasting two or three times the distance already. So kudos to these guys for what they’ve learned.”
Carpentier out of GEM’s No. 10 Dodge
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Patrick Carpentier was released from Gillett Evernham Motorsports, and Mike Wallace and AJ Allmendinger will finish the season in the No. 10 Dodge.
