FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
Denny was in the media center today, and of course he was asked about the pending changes to Bristol. I'll paraphrase what he said, because drivers rarely explain the tire situation in such detail.
Ask any driver about changing or repaving ANY track, and they'll all say leave it alone. Don't repave it until it's falling apart. When a track is repaved, Goodyear will do a tire test with a few drivers. Because of all the grip, the speeds will be real high and Goodyear will go to a harder compound to slow things down. The tires they will give us are idiot proof. You can't wear them out enough no matter how hard you drive, because you'll have no grip. Goodyear is in a tough spot making a tire with grip that wont fall apart. Drivers like old, slippery surfaces because they have more input into how fast they can go.
With a new surface and hard tires, you need to get your spots in the first 5 laps after a restart. After that, you fall into line and nobodys tires fall off. You can close up on the guy in front of you, but you can't get to him or pass because your tires are chattering when you lose air on your front end. You can't pass the guy, so you fall in line.
Ask any driver about changing or repaving ANY track, and they'll all say leave it alone. Don't repave it until it's falling apart. When a track is repaved, Goodyear will do a tire test with a few drivers. Because of all the grip, the speeds will be real high and Goodyear will go to a harder compound to slow things down. The tires they will give us are idiot proof. You can't wear them out enough no matter how hard you drive, because you'll have no grip. Goodyear is in a tough spot making a tire with grip that wont fall apart. Drivers like old, slippery surfaces because they have more input into how fast they can go.
With a new surface and hard tires, you need to get your spots in the first 5 laps after a restart. After that, you fall into line and nobodys tires fall off. You can close up on the guy in front of you, but you can't get to him or pass because your tires are chattering when you lose air on your front end. You can't pass the guy, so you fall in line.