Harvick calls Goodyear Tires ‘crap’

While NASCAR and Goodyear officials had hoped that the Martinsville Speedway surface would get rubbered in during the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, it failed to do so and several drivers complained about the tire afterward. Goodyear brought a different tire to prevent grating on the left-side tires as they slide across the concrete and then added grip to the right-side tires to compensate for the change in grip of the lefts.

That has resulted in teams cording some right-side tires until they can find the correct camber on the 0.526-mile track, made even tougher because it has the concrete in the corners with asphalt on the straightaways.

Kevin Harvick finally got his truck going right after substantial camber adjustments but still corded his right-side tires at the end of the race.

“The tires are such pieces of crap that we had to come in and take camber shims out of it [to adjust the angle of the tire] and there still is no right rubber on the race track," Harvick said. “It’s a lot like Bristol. It put all the teams in a box that really isn’t necessary. I don’t know why we take good tires that we race here for years and change them."

The winner of the truck race, Johnny Sauter, said he liked the tire and felt it was what the trucks needed for a 250-lap race.

“In the past, you could make only one pit stop and pretty much maintain your track position until the end of the race," Sauter said. “Today, there was no way you were going to get away with that.

“This is the kind of racing I like. This is short-track racing where tires wear out and you have to slip and slide. One lap you’re loose and the next lap you’re tight and the crew chief thinks you’re crazy." Scenedaily.com