NascarFanatic

INDIANAPOLIS — Jimmie Johnson celebrated his second victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a burnout.
Appropriately, one of his tires exploded.
Johnson survived horrendous tire troubles that made Sunday’s race a caution-filled debacle because the Goodyear product was not durable enough to withstand the lack of downforce on NASCAR’s new car and the speeds and surface of Indy.
“We came with the best tire we had for the conditions and we fell short. We’ll try to get it right,” said Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear.

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“I don’t think anybody likes to race like this, us included. We’ll do what we can to make it better.”
But there was nothing Goodyear could do on Sunday, when NASCAR threw six competition cautions designed to force teams to pit and change their tires.
It meant the longest green-flag run was an embarrassing 12 laps, causing teams to fear both tire failures and a possible supply shortage. Goodyear shipped in 800 tires earmarked for use next week in Pocono before the race, but they ultimately weren’t needed.
It was little consolation as drivers feared going full speed and crew chiefs were forced to gamble on tire strategy. No one was certain when NASCAR would call a caution, or if the sanctioning body would eventually decide to let the drivers go as long as they wanted.
Instead, NASCAR called the cautions roughly every 10-to-12 laps.

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