By @GucciardoJoey
Today is the final day of a two-day Goodyear tire test at Kansas Speedway for several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams.
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| Greg Stucker |
Goodyear's Director of Race Tire Sales, Greg Stucker talked to Motorsport.com and discussed some changes that Goodyear may make to fit the 2016 aerodynamic changes, specifically changes made for low-downforce racing.
"We're actually going to be doing a lot of work on low downforce," Stucker said. "Obviously, we had two good races with that setup and we just want to get a leg up on that package at that race track, make sure our race setup (for 2015) is still good.
` "But the main focus is 2016 and low downforce and looking at the variations with the current package as well as going softer. We're just going to shake it down. We think we're fine with the current package, but the majority of the test will be low downforce."
During last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR was insistent about not allowing Chase participants to test tracks in the final 10 races. But Stucker says with open testing and the end of the tire test it makes the process "equitable for everybody".
Goodyear's upcoming NASCAR tests will be at Phoenix International Raceway on October 12th-13th with a test open to the public at the track on October 14th.
"We're actually going to be doing a lot of work on low downforce," Stucker said. "Obviously, we had two good races with that setup and we just want to get a leg up on that package at that race track, make sure our race setup (for 2015) is still good.
` "But the main focus is 2016 and low downforce and looking at the variations with the current package as well as going softer. We're just going to shake it down. We think we're fine with the current package, but the majority of the test will be low downforce."
During last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR was insistent about not allowing Chase participants to test tracks in the final 10 races. But Stucker says with open testing and the end of the tire test it makes the process "equitable for everybody".
Goodyear's upcoming NASCAR tests will be at Phoenix International Raceway on October 12th-13th with a test open to the public at the track on October 14th.
"Phoenix is an early race in 2016," Stucker said. "We're not sure which way we'll go, but if you look at the Kentucky and Darlington races - and the discussions that we've had - we want to be prepared to go in (a low downforce) direction if that's what NASCAR wants to do."
Stucker had brought up the problem of tire fall-off. A good example is that Goodyear had selected a softer tire compound for the recent racing activities at Darlington, but the track has changed tremendously since it was repaved in 2007.
Stucker believes that the goal will not be to choose a softer tire but "to optimize the package for individual racetracks."
"A lot of people talked a lot about tire fall off," Stucker said. "I know a lot of people say that's one of things we're trying to accomplish but Darlington is starting to be the Darlington of old. There's a lot of fall off on that surface. We saw a lot of fall off in the Xfinity race the night before and they were running the package we intended to run on the standard 2015 (Sprint Cup) package."
Goodyear will bring the same tire package to the season finale as it will run this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 8. Goodyear is also looking at scheduling additional tire tests for Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway depending on the direction NASCAR takes with the aero package.
Stucker had brought up the problem of tire fall-off. A good example is that Goodyear had selected a softer tire compound for the recent racing activities at Darlington, but the track has changed tremendously since it was repaved in 2007.
Stucker believes that the goal will not be to choose a softer tire but "to optimize the package for individual racetracks."
"A lot of people talked a lot about tire fall off," Stucker said. "I know a lot of people say that's one of things we're trying to accomplish but Darlington is starting to be the Darlington of old. There's a lot of fall off on that surface. We saw a lot of fall off in the Xfinity race the night before and they were running the package we intended to run on the standard 2015 (Sprint Cup) package."
Goodyear will bring the same tire package to the season finale as it will run this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 8. Goodyear is also looking at scheduling additional tire tests for Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway depending on the direction NASCAR takes with the aero package.
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