NASCAR Cup Series

Exclusive: Goodyear executive delves deeper into tire controversy

Published Apr. 11, 2015 11:43 a.m. ET

foxsports

The biggest topic of conversation over the past few weeks in the NASCAR garage has been tires -- more specifically, teams altering tires.

Starting at the end of the 2014 season, NASCAR began taking tires from select teams as their post-race inspection process. The practice began again this year starting with the third race of the Sprint Cup Series season at Phoenix International Raceway.

The rumor in the garage has been team are poking tiny 0.001- to 0.002-inch holes in the sidewall of the tire to bleed air pressure, allowing the tire to reach optimal pressure sooner and maximizing grip.

Last week, NASCAR issued a P5 penalty to the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team for manipulating tires at Auto Club Speedway. NASCAR did not say specifically how the tires were altered, and the team has appealed the penalty.

While it is clear altering tires is a major violation of the NASCAR rulebook, why is it a bad idea to do so?

Greg Stucker, director of racing for Goodyear, sat down with FOXSports.com Friday at Texas Motor Speedway to explain.

"The tire is a structure and it's kind of a membrane, it requires the air pressure to give it rigidity and to give it the load-carrying capacity that we need," he said. "It's not just the tire itself; it's a combination of the tire and the inflation pressure that's in the tire, the air that you put in the tire that enables it to carry that load."

Goodyear decides which tire compound to bring to the track each weekend through at-track tests and data from previous races. The tire supplier is also continually in contact with teams throughout race weekends, examining and discussing tire wear and durability.

Each week, Goodyear provides tires for teams across the board, while also issuing a recommended minimum air pressure for the tires. Teams are not required to follow those guidelines and NASCAR no longer enforces them.

"We make a pressure recommendations knowing what the loads are at a place like Texas, knowing what the construction of the tire is, so those two work together to carry the loads that the car is going to see," said Stucker. "If you try to manipulate that you could be operating outside the envelope where the tire is meant to operate.

"The other thing is ... you run the risk of damaging the structural members of the tire itself," he said. "The tire has cords; it has fabric that creates its structure. If you damage one of those cords, then you lower the integrity of that component. You certainly have a high risk that the tire could fail because you've damaged one of the components."

While it remains unclear how teams are allegedly altering the tires, Stucker said it is not Goodyear's role to police what happens to the tires once in teams' hands.

"That's really NASCAR's job," he said. "NASCAR polices the sport, they're the ones that enforce the rules, and they're the ones that make the rules. We as a tire supplier try to make the best, safest product week in and week out and we try to give the teams all the information we can in order to make their lives easy and to use the tire properly. At the same time we try to provide NASCAR with the information to know what to expect."

Two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, four-time champion Jeff Gordon suggested NASCAR look into using a bleeder valve system, something similar to those used in sprint car and short track racing.

While Stucker believes it is worth exploring, he also questions whether a bleeder valve system would work in NASCAR.

"Unfortunately right now I don't know that the technology exists for this type of application," he said. "They're used mainly in short track racing on very short runs. We don't see applications where guys are out there for 55-lap green flag runs at this kind of speed. It's a different environment in which that technology would have to operate. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to a group looking at it between NASCAR, Goodyear, and there's a lot of bright guys in the garage area."

So while NASCAR made it clear with the penalties to Newman and the No. 31 RCR team that altering tires isa major offense, there is much more to the reasons behind the rule. According to Stucker, altering tires is not a concern for Goodyear in terms of competitive advantage; it is really all about maintaining the integrity of the tires on each car on the track.

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