The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will hold a two-day tire test at Richmond International Raceway next Tuesday and Wednesday (October 6-7). The purpose of the test is two-fold (1) do some fundamental work on its short track/flat track tire set-up for the 2010 NASCAR season, and (2) take the first on-track look at a larger NASCAR tire. First and foremost, this is a normal tire test for us, said Greg Stucker, Goodyears director of race tire sales. Were going to Richmond to work on our short track set-up, looking for some things we might want to evaluate further before next season. While Goodyear has made great gains on its current tire lineup with an aggressive testing schedule, the larger tire is a future project that the company has chosen to keep on its radar screen. The second part of the Richmond test is very preliminary and is our first opportunity to get the larger size tire on the track, said Stucker. Weve been very happy with the lab work on the larger tire and the modeling results that weve seen, so the next logical step is to get this tire on the ground.
Roush-Fenway Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Travis Kvapil will handle the driving duties for the test, with the team bringing a specific car to accommodate the larger tire which is one-and-a-half inches taller and one-and-a-half inches wider than the current NASCAR tire, and will be run on 17-inch wheels as compared to the current 15-inch configuration. “Both Goodyear and NASCAR work on research and development programs all the time and that’s what we have here,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition. “In fact, one of the goals of this test is to further enhance the reliability and performance of the current 15-inch tire that we use today. There is absolutely no timetable whatsoever in regards to the possibility of having a new tire.”(Goodyear)(10-3-2009)
