Goodyear to make larger tire for CoT

A bigger tire could be in NASCAR's future.

In the wake of last week's tire controversy at Indianapolis, where some of its tires failed, Goodyear is looking ahead to a tire that could work better with NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow, a bigger, heavier vehicle than the previous models used in Sprint Cup.

"We had some discussion about a larger tire … several years ago with NASCAR when we started this whole discussion about the Car of Tomorrow," said Stu Grant, general manager of worldwide racing for Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR's top three professional series.

"But, obviously, we've been working with the current size on the Car of Tomorrow. This spring, we decided to ramp that (new) program up."

Grant said there would be several differences from the current tire.

"We are working on a larger contain-air volume, a bigger section width, taller tire, larger bead diameter," he said. "Right now, it's all modeling. We're trying to figure out what the right size would be."

Goodyear hopes the bigger tire would be a better match for the CoT, but it will be two years before the new model would be available. Grant said NASCAR has been "totally supportive." Heraldnet.com