Greg Stucker: Goodyear’s Director of Race Tires: ‘After two days of testing at Kansas, we saw what was expected of a newly repaved track ‘ smooth, black asphalt and a considerable amount of grip. It took about a half-day of running with the nine cars involved in the test, but the track took rubber nicely and a narrow groove developed. We expect that groove to widen out during the race weekend. The recently-raced Michigan tire package was our ‘control ‘ for the test, with several other options in that compound range evaluated. That proved to be the correct choice based upon tire temperatures, wear and driver comments, and I ‘d say it is currently the leading candidate for our Kansas race tire.’
Nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams participated in the test, held Tuesday and Wednesday at the newly repaved Kansas Speedway. The teams and drivers were the #2 Penske Racing Dodge with Brad Keselowski, #9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford with Marcos Ambrose, #17 Roush-Fenway Racing Ford with Matt Kenseth, #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with Joey Logano, #27 Richard Childress Racing Chevy with Paul Menard, #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevy with Juan Pablo Montoya, #55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota with Mark Martin, #78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy with Regan Smith and #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy with Dale Earnhardt Jr. NASCAR will return to Kansas for its race weekend with the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars on October 19-21.(Goodyear)(8-30-2012)
