by Joe Dunn  |  About The Author   |  Discuss

When is Nascar Sprint Cup racing, not racing?  When they go to Indy with a BAD tire for this track.  This is not the first time for tire issues at the Brickyard, but with all the testing they have done, one would expect something better than what we did Sunday.
 

The problems really came to light during Saturday's practices when teams reported tires falling apart after very few laps. But both Nascar and Goodyear knew about the problems before that. 

The last minute response was to haul in tires made to specs for Pocono next week.  One has to wonder WHY?  The Pocono tire is yet an even softer compound than the Indy tire, which was wearing to the cords, sometimes in as little as 8 laps.  
 

With the longest green flag stretch at 12 laps, I have seen a lot more exciting racing watching 4 cylinders at the local dirt track. 

As the race progressed, the ESPN team in the booth strived to cover up the smell of this fiasco by telling viewers how much better and more exciting the racing was getting late in the race.  I highly doubt that anyone who was actually watching the race seriously believed them, or owners Richard Childress or Joe Gibbs who professed that Nascar and Goodyear were doing a great job of adapting to a situation beyond their control.
 

In the end, the race came down to a 6 lap shootout, that looked anything like a shootout, but rather  follow the leader pace laps as Jimmie Johnson took the uneventful checkered flag.

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You can contact Joe at joe@onpitroad.com

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