Its debut set records. Its encore offered a taste of whats to come. ‘It” is the innovative ‘multi-zone tread” Goodyear tire that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers tested Thursday at Kansas Speedway, and will use during Sundays Hollywood Casino 400, the fourth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Goodyear developed two zones on the right side tires: the outer zone dubbed the ‘traction zone” which was made of a sticky and more grip-oriented compound and the ‘inner zone” also known as the ‘endurance zone” which was built with a firmer compound to help prolong the tire life. Thirty-eight drivers tested the new tire during a three-plus hour session at Kansas Speedway that was delayed by rain. #48-Jimmie Johnson turned the fastest lap at 182.648 mph, followed by #99-Carl Edwards, #78-Kurt Busch, #31-Jeff Burton and #27-Paul Menard. Points leader #20-Matt Kenseth was 13th on the speed charts. Goodyears multi-zone tread tire debuted at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month, resulting in shattered passing records. Throughout the 500-mile event, there were 3,748 green flag passes 190 more than the old record, and 1,200 more than last years figure. At Atlanta, the new tires durability counterbalanced the rough racing surface. At Kansas Speedway, which repaved its racing surface last year, the ‘multi-zone tread” tires design will add grip to combat the new, slick surface. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby offered a ‘no news is good news” critique of todays tire test. ‘We didnt see anything, which is good news’ Darby said. ‘One of the exciting parts of having it here at Kansas is because this is a recently repaved track thats very smooth. We ran the zone tread at Atlanta without any technical issues or failures and had a good race. But thats on a very aggressive, coarse track surface. We had that example. This is the other end of the spectrum for the tire. Its fresh pavement thats smooth.”(NASCAR) See speeds, laps run, best 10 consecutive lap average on the Kansas Test Speeds page (pdf) .
