By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
INDIANAPOLIS — Goodyear trucked in extra shipment of tires Sunday morning for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard amid complaints about excessive wear during practice Friday and Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the new shipment of tires, which were intended to be used at Pocono Raceway next week, could be used during the 160-lap, 400-mile race. If needed, the Pocono tires would be implemented unilaterally across the 43-car Sprint Cup Series field.
Pemberton said there would be at least two NASCAR-mandated caution flags to check wear during the early stages of the race, with the first occurring on Lap 10.
"We're going to monitor the wear and early on, we'll make a call on how far we can go with Indy tires," Pemberton said. "If wear characteristics don't improve enough, and it gets to that point, there'll be a caution. All the current Indy tires will come out of the pit area, and we will issue the Pocono tire."
Drivers were able to make about five laps in Friday's practice before wearing out their tires. Saturday, they could make about 10. Generally, tires should last the life of a fuel run, and a Goodyear prerace news release estimated the pit window for the race as about 32-34 laps. Teams were issued two extra sets of tires for practice and qualifying this weekend (up to eight sets) because of Indy's abrasive surface...............
INDIANAPOLIS — Goodyear trucked in extra shipment of tires Sunday morning for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard amid complaints about excessive wear during practice Friday and Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the new shipment of tires, which were intended to be used at Pocono Raceway next week, could be used during the 160-lap, 400-mile race. If needed, the Pocono tires would be implemented unilaterally across the 43-car Sprint Cup Series field.
Pemberton said there would be at least two NASCAR-mandated caution flags to check wear during the early stages of the race, with the first occurring on Lap 10.
"We're going to monitor the wear and early on, we'll make a call on how far we can go with Indy tires," Pemberton said. "If wear characteristics don't improve enough, and it gets to that point, there'll be a caution. All the current Indy tires will come out of the pit area, and we will issue the Pocono tire."
Drivers were able to make about five laps in Friday's practice before wearing out their tires. Saturday, they could make about 10. Generally, tires should last the life of a fuel run, and a Goodyear prerace news release estimated the pit window for the race as about 32-34 laps. Teams were issued two extra sets of tires for practice and qualifying this weekend (up to eight sets) because of Indy's abrasive surface...............
