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Hand Goodyear the Football - Making the Grade Atlanta
3/11/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Yes Goodyear has to make the error on the side of safety but Dale Earnhardt Jr is right…there has to be a middle ground! Maybe this is the Goodyear version of the "Three Bears." The Las Vegas tire was too soft. The Atlanta tire was too hard. Now when we go to Texas Motor Speedway in April maybe we can find the tire that is just right! Hey if it works for porridge it should work just fine with tires too! But last week it looked more like Goodyear was caught in the act like the money with the football. Sorry folks but making tires isn't rocket science! It does take thousands of miles of testing to make sure you bring the right tire and it is obvious NASCAR and Goodyear is way behind with the new car. Maybe they need to hire Dave Marcis and run thousands of miles of testing in the new car on a variety of tires to find the one that is closer to being just right for each track! But of course that costs money.
Race Grade: C
We are used to photo finishes and great racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway but we didn't get either in the Kobalt Tools 500. The sad thing is that Atlanta is less finicky than some of the other mile and a half tracks! Also this hard tire fix won't work when the temperatures rise.
F for Goodyear
Instead of having so many different compounds to try to get the tires perfect can't we just settle for a safe tire that does wear? I know the new car with the higher center of gravity is a challenge! But the track temperatures were as close to ideal as we will have all season at a track that is somewhat forgiving and they still couldn't find a tire that works. As the heat rises this hard tire won't work without chunking either. Maybe Wiley Coyote is available to help them out!
D for Elliott Sadler and Gillette-Evernham
After starting the season strong the Gillette-Evernham Motorsports teams laid an egg at Atlanta! Elliott Sadler is much more talented of a driver than to lose control three times in one race. Kasey Kahne was a non-factor all day too. Hopefully this team will rebound at the next speedway.
C for Jimmie Johnson
When you win back-to-back championships getting lapped in just twenty-eight laps is not acceptable performance! The No. 48 team got really lucky with two well-placed cautions or they might have finished three laps down! Martinsville is right around the corner but if Jimmie struggled this bad in cool weather imagine how much more he will fall off this summer when the temperatures rise!
B for Tony Stewart
If Goodyear brings a lousy tire the rest of the year Tony Stewart might complain every week but he might be racing in the top five all season! Whenever the conditions are extreme and the cars are ill handling the best drivers go to the front. Smoke also gets extra credit for being so out spoken about the tire issues. It will take driver outrage to get any positive changes made in the sport.
A for Kyle Busch
We are seeing a super star emerge! This like watching Jordan in his early days with the Chicago Bulls or Tiger Woods when he was breaking into professional golf, we are witnessing something special to look back on twenty years from now. Some people are complaining about the kiss-fest on the Fox broadcasts raving about Kyle Busch. Even Kyle joked about his fan club being up to 50 members with the addition of the Fox announcers. Hey Kyle better make that 51 because I got on the bandwagon before the season started!
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