Several teams have tire problems at Texas

The Goodyears were exploding in Texas

When Sunday's race got under way on Sunday afternoon, it did not take long for tire issues to pop up. Chase driver Joey Logano was running fourth in the opening laps of the race when his left-rear tire exploded, going down the backstretch. The shredded tire destroyed the left-rear quarter panel of the car, brought out the first caution of the day and took the Team Penske driver out of contention. On Lap 36, reigning series champion Kevin Harvick also had a flat left-rear tire, but the car did not suffer any damage. With just 54 laps to go, Harvick had another flat tire — this time it was the left rear. Harvick was forced to give up the second spot to hit pit road. Crew chief Rodney Childers determined Harvick ran over a piece of debris on both occasions.

The tire problems were far from over, though. #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a right-front tire go down on Lap 50. Kyle Larson suffered two separate left-rear tire failures on Lap 101 and Lap 232. Ryan Newman lost a left rear on Lap 145. Kyle Busch had a tire coming apart on his #18 Toyota, but was able to hit pit road during a cycle of green flag pit stops with 84 laps to go, and did not lose any ground.

Despite the multiple problems, Goodyear's director of racing, Greg Stucker, said it was a myriad of issues causing the tire failures in Sunday's race, but he stood behind the compound. Stucker said both Harvick and Earnhardt ran over debris, which cut the tires. "The left rear is most certainly the most common occurrence," Stucker said inside the Texas Motor Speedway media center during the race.

"We're seeing signs of over-deflection type air losses, which we have seen before. I think one of the other factors you have to consider is the impact the weather had." Stucker pointed out that with no practice on Saturday, teams were unable to properly gauge the tire wear and find the edge. "I think that's just where we are right now," he said. "They're still trying to sort through that and find where they can be with left-rear deflection, where they can be with air pressures and where they can be with their setup." The tire compound used Sunday at Texas is the same that will be run in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Fox Sports