Goodyear's Busy Week Of Testing Includes Stops At Indy, Homestead
AKRON, OHIO (Friday, October 17, 2008) -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company had its test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway shortened last week due to rain. The tiremaker returned this week to complete its agenda on Monday, then held a scheduled test at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Tuesday.
While 13 cars participated in the Indianapolis test last week (Oct. 6-7), the track was able to take on a good amount of rubber. Returning this week after rain had washed the track clean added another level to the proceedings.
"We went back to Indy to finish up the end of our program from the previous week," said Rick Campbell, Goodyear's NASCAR project manager. "We went back to see if we could document the same gains on a green track that we saw on a 'rubbered in' race track. What we learned over the past two weeks was that we saw a significant improvement under a variety of track conditions, and that everything we learned will provide a basis to begin our 2009 development program."
This Monday's test at Indianapolis was run by the No. 10 Gillett-Evernham Motorsports Dodge with driver A.J. Allmendinger.
The Homestead test was a basic confimation for the upcoming event scheduled for the South Florida-facility on November 14-16. Goodyear's tire codes for the race will be D-4134 on the left-side and D-4136 on the right-side, the same tire set-up that has been run at Texas and Chicagoland this season.
"Our confirmation test at Homestead went well," added Campbell. "The early wear rates were high, as expected, but as the teams tested and the track 'rubbered in,' wear improved significantly. By the end of the day, both cars were running full fuel runs with good performance."
The Homestead test was handled by the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge team with Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 83 Red Bull Racing Toyota with Brian Vickers.
This week's tests completed a busy stretch of testing for Goodyear. NASCAR's exclusive tire supplier for its top-three series has now completed eight tests at six different facilities over the past eight weeks.
