Daytona repaving gives Goodyear tight timeline

Daytona International Speedway is repaving the 2.5-mile super-speedway for the first time since 1978. While work will begin following the Coke Zero 400 in July, track officials don't expect the asphalt to be ready for testing until Jan. 1. That's more than a month before NASCAR teams return for Speedweeks and it may not leave Goodyear ample time to perfect a tire for the Daytona 500. NASCAR officials informed Goodyear of an open Daytona test scheduled for mid-January (rumored to be Jan. 15th but denied by top brass from the sanctioning body). Goodyear traditionally begins manufacturing tires in October for Speedweeks with the usual run of 6,000 units. With a test involved, as is anticipated given a completely green and unknown track surface, Goodyear would likely up the tire inventory to 8,000 tires for all the Daytona events – the Budweiser Shootout, Gatorade Duels, Camping World Truck race, Nationwide Series race and the 500 (and practices for all those events). Originally, Stu Grant of Goodyear had hoped to start the testing process no later than Nov. 1, using the current Daytona tires as the control tires and build a data base. Should Goodyear not have time for a tire test prior to January, the Daytona open test sessions would become the tire test. Lane Construction recently repaved Talladega using the same asphalt compound for Daytona, so Grant says Goodyear would now use the Talladega tire as the control tire. Goodyear has received pavement samples from Lane but if testing is not an option, the tires will have to be developed by engineers in the lab instead of on the track. The selection process begins with a control tire and usually requires four to six weeks to assemble the materials, then build and cure the tires. Even if Goodyear could test a tire on Jan. 1, teams would not have track-tested tires for a full Cup Series test on Jan. 15. Although it would be a push, teams could have the new tires for the opening day of Speedweeks on Feb. 9. Fox Sports

[Editor's Note: When is the NASCAR media going to start treating Goodyear Tire with kid gloves? The Rolex 24 Hour race, which uses a good portion of the Daytona oval, runs weeks before the Daytona 500 and those tire manufacturers will have to have their tires ready for Daytona well before Goodyear, but no mention of that in this article. The fact is that when race tracks are resurfaced worldwide you don't hear about tire blowout, explosions and poor tire wear from other tire manufacturers. If it happens, it's isolated incidences. It's just poor Goodyear that can't get it right, time and time again.]

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