Goodyear officials confirmed Thursday that it will conduct another tire test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway next Tuesday, a week after a two-day test on the newly resurfaced 1.5-mile oval. Rick Heinrich, project manager for Goodyear, said Wednesday that the tires showed a little more wear than Goodyear would have liked, but that could be expected as Goodyear attempts to create a compound that will work on the track. Lowe’s Motor Speedway underwent a $3.5 million repaving job after tire problems plagued races there last season. Track president H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler said it is too early to predict whether tire wear will be an issue during the May races. All of the Nextel Cup teams are scheduled to test May 1-3 and then Busch Series teams will test May 8-10. “It’s going to be a challenge, and I’m not sure that we really are going to now exactly what we’ve got as far as the track is concerned until we have all of the cars come in here in early May,” Wheeler said. “We have no idea right now about a second groove because everybody is staying down low.”(SceneDaily.com)(3-31-2006)
UPDATE: Goodyear is planning to do a second tire test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Dale Jarrett and Kevin Harvick will test there Tuesday.(Roanoke Times)(4-1-2006)
UPDATE 2: Officials from NASCAR, Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Goodyear met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the results of a second tire test at the newly paved 1.5-mile track, with everyone apparently feeling better than they did after last week’s initial test. “Goodyear officials were a lot more optimistic,” said Jerry Gappens, the track’s senior vice president. “They brought a completely new tire and they did not encounter the challenges they had last week with the higher speeds, excessive wear and higher tire temperatures.” Kevin Harvick and Dale Jarrett participated in Tuesday’s test. Goodyear built a totally different tire, with new construction and a harder compound, and Gappens said cars were about one second per lap slower than last week, a drop of about 6 mph. There were no apparent issues with excessive wear or high temperatures. Goodyear plans to bring the tire tested Tuesday back for the Nextel Cup test scheduled at the track May 1-3. It also the one Goodyear plans to supply to Busch and Truck series teams for their races here in May. It appears now that carburetor restrictor plates like those used at Daytona and Talladega will not be needed for the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge and the Coca-Cola 600. It however remains possible that smaller fuel cells used at those tracks might be employed for May’s races here.(full column at ThatsRacin)(4-5-2006)
