| | Associated Press
CONCORD, N.C. -- If there's one constant in racing it's
tires: Every car has them and all sets are exactly the same.
But this weekend there's a tire shortage, and that could have
big implications for two NASCAR races at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Because hundreds of tires were thrown away after failing a
quality-control test at its Akron, Ohio, production plant, Goodyear
officials warned NASCAR officials they might not have enough tires to get
through the weekend.
On Friday, NASCAR moved quickly to remedy the situation by
changing the right-side tires the Busch teams will use in
Saturday's All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 to a different model.
The Busch teams then had to return their unused original tires
to Goodyear, which then distributed them to the Winston Cup teams
for use in Sunday's UAW-GM Quality 500.
"Goodyear came to us and told us they might have a problem and
we felt like we were at the point of no return," Winston Cup
director Gary Nelson said. "We didn't want to take a chance, so we
made the change."
The change effects Busch and Winston Cup teams dramatically.
Winston Cup teams need at least seven sets of tires for a
typical race. Because of the shortage, they are now forced to
ration what they have over the remaining practices to ensure they
have enough left on Sunday.
By taking the tires from the Busch teams, NASCAR is trying to
guarantee the Winston Cup teams will have enough.
But there is no guarantee, and that changes pit-stop strategies
at a track where races often come down to one final tire change.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled off a stunning victory at this track
in May. He gambled by changing all four tires on the final pit stop
of The Winston when the rest of the field took only two.
In sixth place before the tire change, Earnhardt Jr. rode the
fresh set to victory.
Winston Cup teams had Friday off and weren't at the track to
comment on the change. But Harold Holly, crew chief for Bush series
points leader Jeff Green, said the tire shortage would have a huge
effect on the teams.
"They are going to be limited to what they can practice on to
make sure they have enough for the race and that should never
happen," he said. "This is a track that often comes down to the
last pit stop and what each team has left for tires."
The change also harmed all the Busch teams that had practiced and
set up their cars based on one kind of right-front tire only to
have it switched the day before the race.
Compounding the problem was that NASCAR forbid any Busch teams
that had already qualified for the race to practice on Friday
morning to conserve tires.
Only teams still trying to make the field were allowed on the
track, and they were allowed to run only two laps at a time to keep
from wearing down tires.
Once the second-round qualifying was over, Goodyear gave all
Busch teams one free set of new tires and all 43 cars were allowed
to test them during afternoon practice.
The teams then had to buy whatever else they needed, at $1,500
per set of four tires.
"It's ridiculous, and it's expensive and it's frustrating,"
Holly said. "We used seven sets of tires to test for this race and
now all that data is useless and all the money is wasted. And when
we finally get the new tires we have to use, we get just one
practice session to adjust to them.
"It's pretty late in the game to be making this change." | |
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Goodyear's Director of Racing Greg Stucker explains the tire shortage at this week's races.
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Jeff Burton feels that with the change of tires, his team is a bit behind schedule.
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