Goodyear tire issues at Daytona (again)

Carl Edwards told reporters tire blistering appeared to be an issue with the new race car on Tuesday. Edwards said his Ford experienced blistering with its right front Goodyear tire. #5-Casey Mears blew a right front tire before his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy car brushed the wall. #41-Reed Sorenson blew a right rear tire and spun his Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge. "I believe every set we've put on that's (blistering) been the limiting factor in single car runs and in the draft," Edwards said. "I don't think it's a function of the draft. We have worked with the camber a little bit and gotten it better. That's the No. 1 issue right now." Goodyear's Rick Heinrich acknowledged issues with tires. "We have a new car and we have a new tire and what these test sessions are all about is for the teams to experiment and get dialed in and to figure out where they need to be when they come back for Speedweeks," he said. "Right now we've got, some of the teams have got a lot of heat in the right front tires and we have seen some blistering but then what the situation is from there is it's up to the team to make adjustments and improve on that condition." #19 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge driver Elliott Sadler said his team also experienced some blistering but he wasn't concerned. "I think this is a normal issue in winter testing until we get some rubber down on the race track," he told reporters. "By the time we have the 24-hour race and stuff like that, there will be plenty of rubber down, we'll slide around a little bit more and tire problems will take care of themselves." Florida Today

AND Despite a bunch of blistered Goodyear tires Tuesday in Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway and one crash that might have been a result of that issue, NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said don't expect any tire changes before Speedweeks 2008. Pemberton said teams were using a different tire at Daytona than was used in the COT's previous outing on a similar racetrack, last October at Talladega Superspeedway. He said the Daytona tire had "more stagger," or more circumference from the right to the left side to aid the cars' turning. NASCAR.com

[Editor's Note: When is NASCAR going to switch to a tire manufacturer that does not have these tire issues year in and year out?]