Although it had been some time since Tony Stewart said anything critical of Goodyear and its tires, he did not hold back Sunday, accusing Goodyear of costing him a shot at victory in Sunday’s MBNA America 400 at Dover International Speedway. Stewart, who has sparred verbally with Goodyear in the past, took four fresh tires on his final pit stop on Lap 326 of 400 but could not keep pace with the race leaders. He finished third after leading 97 laps. “You can’t adjust on a car because it won’t do the same thing from one set of tires to another set of tires. They sponsor all these teams and basically what it is, is ‘hush money’ to keep us from talking about it and I’m tired of covering their [expletive],” Stewart said after the race. “It’s pretty bad when the sets of tires are so bad that you can’t make an adjustment on the car and go out and win the race when you have the fastest car on the track. We’ll just salvage third.” When asked if the sets of tires were completely different from set to set, Stewart said: “Ask Goodyear, they’re the ones who build the pieces of [expletive].” Goodyear officials met with team owner Joe Gibbs and Zipadelli after the race. Campbell said Goodyear would be talking more with the team this week about the issue.(more at [NOTE: adult content on this link] ThatsRacin.com )(9-22-2003)
