Goodyear Tire problems cause cars to catch fire at Richmond

Goodyear tires – Some races they explode, others they catch fire. Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 AAA Insurance Toyota, heads to the pits after catching fire

Several Sprint Cup drivers battled tire issues Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, causing some cars to catch fire from the burning rubber.

The issues didn’t come as a surprise as Nationwide Series teams had issues the night before. But unlike the Nationwide drivers that experienced problems with the right front after about 75 green-flag laps, the higher-horsepower Cup cars were having issues after 50-60 laps.

Among the drivers who had problems were Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Reed Sorenson.

Goodyear brought a new tire combination to Richmond, with its new multi-zone tire on the right side. The outward 10 inches of the right-side tire had the same compound as last year but the inside two inches of tread surface was designed for more endurance, with a tougher, more heat-resistant compound.

It appeared the inside few inches of the tires were unraveling, causing the areas around the brakes and wheels to catch fire when rubber became entangled with wheel and suspension parts. Chunks of burning rubber also littered pit road and the track after some of the tire failures.

“There are a number of cars that don’t have any issues at all and they have got a good balanced car and everything is fine," Goodyear Racing executive Stu Grant told Motor Racing Network during its race broadcast. “But what we’re seeing is the inside shoulder of the right front is wearing through the tread and through the overlay.

“It’s important to have a good balanced car, it’s important to not have a lot of camber, and it’s important to try to stay off that right front. But having said that, it looks like the operating window is pretty narrow for these guys. If they miss it by a little bit, you’re going to get into that right front and we’re going to have to work on that."

Goodyear most likely will conduct a tire test and bring a new tire for the Richmond race next September, a pivotal event as the final race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup field is set.

It was the second Cup race this year with multiple tire issues.

“The tire was adjusted properly on many of the cars, and I think some of them took it overboard," NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said. “Goodyear being a good partner, they’ll get together and if it’s something we need to re-do before we get back in here in the fall, I’m sure Goodyear is more than happy to test and build another tire."

Those drivers who had tire issues lost at least a couple of laps under green and had trouble getting them back.

“(I’m) not exactly sure why we had that issue, but we did have back-to-back tire issues there," Johnson said. “That really just kind of put an end to our night. We didn’t have anything for the win, but I thought we could run top-five."

There were some drivers who couldn’t continue after their cars caught fire from either cords or rubber getting hung on the brakes or in ducts.

“Seems like the rubber got to the oil lines and the brake lines and that was what was burning was the oil and the fuel," Reed Sorenson said after he scrambled out of his car. “So I got out of there as quick as I could and to try and not inhale all that smoke. (It’s) definitely not what you want to be inside of."

Kyle Busch, who finished third, said it was just the wrong tires and worse than the tire the drivers had at Richmond last year.
“It's just too hard and too hard of a compound for here," Busch said. “We were all basically on ice here, it was just like having a hard tire out there. The effort that they tried to gain with the left side tire softening it up, you could just take the left sides off, it didn't feel like they did anything. Sporting News http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-04-27/richmond-results-tire-problems-reed-sorenson-fire-goodyear-jimmie-johnson