By @GucciardoJoey
Teams went into this weekend's AAA Texas 500 worried about how the racing would play out. With all but one practice session cancelled due to rain, teams did not get much practice time, which limited the amount of time Goodyear tires had time to be tested by teams.
Kyle Busch had a tire going down on his No. 18 Toyota, but was able to hit pit road during green flag pit stops with 84 laps to go, and managed to keep his ground. Race winner Jimmie Johnson had a left-rear tire going down but caught a break when a caution was thrown.
“We were slipping back a little bit. Jimmie was talking about getting loose,” crew chief Chad Knaus said after winning the race. “The caution came out shortly thereafter. As he came down pit road and took the tires off, we saw we had a left-rear tire going flat."
"The left rear is most certainly the most common occurrence," Greg Stucker, Goodyear;s director of racing, said inside the Texas Motor Speedway media center during the race. "We're seeing signs of over-deflection type air losses, which we have seen before. I think one of the other factors you have to consider is the impact the weather had."
Goodyear's director of racing, Greg Stucker said that the tire issues were caused by teams not having much practice time, which led to teams not being able to gauge tires and find edges.
"I think that's just where we are right now," he said. "They're still trying to sort through that and find where they can be with left-rear deflection, where they can be with air pressures and where they can be with their setup."
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| Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Insurance Ford, pulls into the garage area after blowing a tire during the NASCAR Sprint Cu Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 8, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas. (PHOTO: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images North America) |
When Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race got underway, it took a very short time for tire issues to pop up.
Early in the race, CHASE contender Joey Logano's left-rear tire blew, causing the driver to fall 66 laps down, and led Logano to a 40th-place finish. Logano now needs to win the next Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Speedway if he wants to move on to the next round, which is the round of four drivers that competes for the Sprint Cup championship.
On lap 36, reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick also suffered a flat left-rear tire. However, Harvick did not sustain damage. Harvick had another tire go down with 54 laps to go, causing him to surrender his 2nd-place running position and hit pit road.
Harvick's crew chief Rodney Childers had determined that on both occasions, Harvick had ran over a piece of debris on the track.
The tire problems would only continue, however. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a right-front tire go down on lap 50. Kyle Larson had two incidents where his left-rear tire went down. Those were on laps 101 and 232.
Ryan Newman lost a left-rear tire on lap 145.
Ryan Newman lost a left-rear tire on lap 145.
Kyle Busch had a tire going down on his No. 18 Toyota, but was able to hit pit road during green flag pit stops with 84 laps to go, and managed to keep his ground. Race winner Jimmie Johnson had a left-rear tire going down but caught a break when a caution was thrown.
“We were slipping back a little bit. Jimmie was talking about getting loose,” crew chief Chad Knaus said after winning the race. “The caution came out shortly thereafter. As he came down pit road and took the tires off, we saw we had a left-rear tire going flat."
"The left rear is most certainly the most common occurrence," Greg Stucker, Goodyear;s director of racing, said inside the Texas Motor Speedway media center during the race. "We're seeing signs of over-deflection type air losses, which we have seen before. I think one of the other factors you have to consider is the impact the weather had."
Goodyear's director of racing, Greg Stucker said that the tire issues were caused by teams not having much practice time, which led to teams not being able to gauge tires and find edges.
"I think that's just where we are right now," he said. "They're still trying to sort through that and find where they can be with left-rear deflection, where they can be with air pressures and where they can be with their setup."
- Tweet me at @GucciardoJoey!
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