So far this season, Goodyear tires have unfortunately been a major story at a number of Sprint Cup races...

While I respect your experience and enjoy your articles on Speed, I think we should wait for the facts to emerge before we throw Goodyear under the bus.

All tire companies experience failures of race tires from time to time due to changes in the operating "environment" or tire construction. In my experience, most major tire suppliers have been successful in virtually all forms of racing. The ebb and flow of tire technology and design changes from race-to-race and series-to-series. You can look at most any pro racing and see the disparity amongst top tire companies. This is reality in the very competitive race tire Biz.

No tire company intentionally brings an unsafe tire to a race. That would be stupid because all it can do is harm to their reputation. Instead of Monday morning quarter-backing, we should reserve judgment until the facts are known.

IMO no tire company should have exclusive rights for pro racing. I understand the cost issues and why these exclusive agreements exist but I have never found exclusive deals beneficial to the racers or viewing public. It doesn't matter if it's Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Hoosier or whomever - it's not the best for the sport for there to be only one tire supplier.

The man laid out the facts very clearly from someone who'd know. Goodyear sucks, their tires suck, their business practices suck,and the only way drivers compliment the tires is when they're paid to do so. Drivers who don't are punished.

Great article. Smoke is always factual but due to politics, noone listens and he gets condemned (Not by me). But to wait for the "facts", what races have you been watching all year? The facts speak loud and clear NOW, GY sucks. Safety over politics!!

Tire failure analysis provides facts that are determined through science in a lab, not by some disgruntled racer's or spectator's self-serving opine.

Unsubstantiated personal opinions are worth just about what you pay for them. If there is a defect in the Goodyear tires used at Dega then Goodyear should own up to it. If on the other hand, the failures are a result of chassis contact, track debris, etc. then people should buy a clue and stop bashing Goodyear.

Since no one who has posted here has a shred of technical knowledge on the cause of the tire failures at Dega, the opines expressed are worth exactly zip.

Well we know Goodyear is represented in the comments. I love when people try to tell us the sky's purple when we can see it's blue.

Great article Jade! As far as the technical aspects and not dissing Goodyear - why haven't they come up with an answer then OR SOMETHING?
If they are suppose to be the scientific gurus for the NASCAR racing tires, then how come they can't figure out why the tires BLEW so badly in Indy, that random ones did at 'Dega. Why can't they take all of their information (Indy was SEVERAL months ago) and actually come up with something other than answers that just go around in circles (similar to the gentleman that was interviewed at 'Dega)?
I'm all for making sure that Goodyear gets their say - but they actually NEED to say something then! If there's scientific proof from Indy - please share with us, so that we all may be enlightened, and as has been said - not bash goodyear. Did you notice that they were doing MORE testing at Indy - TODAY?
I, agree with Jade, and pray that a driver isn't injured more so than Denny was Sunday for something to TRULY be done whether it is a tire/car combination, tire/track combination or all of the above - it needs to be figured out.

until some other manufacturer steps up with the kind of commitment that will be required and makes a bid to take over the series, then you all have to live with Goodyear.How many tires are made for specific tracks to appease wussy drivers and crew chiefs?

Anyone defending Goodyear needs to consider this: How many random tire failures do you see with Bridgestone in F1? Or Firestone in Indy Cars? Or Michelin or Dunlop (hell, that's even related to GY!) or Kumho in ALMS? I know NASCAR's cars are heavier and rely more on the tires for grip than cars with (functional) wings or more complex suspension systems, and I know there's a lot more cars which means a lot more wheels which means a lot more chances that a bad tire will be mounted and run, but it just doesn't seem possible that a tire company that cares about its product can have so much trouble.

It seems to me that Goodyear quit treating racing as an R&D;opportunity, or even as an opportunity to prove something about their tires, when they pulled out of virtually every other racing program (including the tire wars it was already losing to Firestone/Bridgestone in the open wheel world, and to Michelin in sports cars) to focus entirely on NASCAR. Until the COT came around, Goodyear was able to take a nap on tire development because the cars were evolving so gradually. They had no competition to worry about and every time a pit reporter said "He's gonna take four fresh Goodyears" they saw dollar signs back in Akron. I suspect that's all that mattered...being able to get their name on TV and associated with NASCAR's three very popular main series. It was only when a car that made different demands on its tires came along that the truth came out: Goodyear was caught flat(winged?)footed.