Goodyear is back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week with several Sprint Cup drivers and teams, conducting a sixth test since last year’s tire meltdown at Indy during the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard. The Allstate 400, seven weeks away on July 26, is NASCAR’s second-biggest event of the year. Only the Daytona 500 ranks higher in terms of prestige and importance. How serious is it? Serious enough that Goodyear invited its biggest critic in the past — Tony Stewart — to make some laps on Monday at Indy. As did #12-David Stremme, who was pleased with the progress Goodyear has made. “They brought a tire that has really even wear,” Stremme said. “We got to a full fuel run [about 30 laps]. Goodyear has done their homework.” Twelve Cup teams will participate in a seventh test later this month. The three-day test this week is closed to the media.(ESPN.com). scheduled to test are #14-Tony Stewart, #42-Juan Pablo Montoya, #9-Kasey Kahne, #7-Robby Gordon, #36-?, #12-David Stremme, #16-Greg Biffle, #21-Bill Elliott and #31-Jeff Burton. The public can view the testing from the infield grandstands in the South chute.(6-3-2009) UPDATE: The process for Goodyear to determine the tire combination for the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race continued this week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With weather and track conditions very near what is expected for the July 26-28 event, more than 1,200 laps of testing was completed with all results indicating they are on target to finalize that recommendation. Goodyear brought nine teams to the Speedway for on-track sessions on Monday and Tuesday, while rain rolled through the area on Wednesday, cancelling the third day of the scheduled test. Drivers and teams that participated were: #16-Greg Biffle, #31-Jeff Burton, #36-Patrick Carpentier, #21-Bill Elliott, #7-Robby Gordon, #9-Kasey Kahne, #42-Juan Pablo Montoya #14-Tony Stewart and #12-David Stremme. Throughout the test,several cars were able to make runs of more than 30 laps, with some even running out of fuel on the track. A fuel stop at the two-and-a-half-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway is estimated at 32 laps. (Goodyear PR)(6-4-2009)
