Goodyear's goof has drivers in an uproar

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I received five identical e-mails from Goodyear last Monday. Now I'm sure this is probably a glitch in the tire maker's email delivery system, but after the firestorm Tony Stewart set off Sunday afternoon, I might believe Goodyear was just trying to get its point across to me.Here's the Reader's Digest version: Goodyear tested a tire at Atlanta last year, then decided to bring a different one for last Sunday's Kobalt 500. The same tire was used for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series, with no complaints on Saturday at all.Also, Goodyear stated it and NASCAR were happy with the Cup race, but if the drivers weren't happy, then the tire manufacturer isn't happy.Guess what? The drivers aren't happy.Goodyear made a last-minute decision with the tire, and judging by its performance, that particular hard piece of rubber is better suited at tracks like gritty Rockingham, maybe for May's ARCA race there, or the old, sandpaper-like pavement at Darlington, which was recently resurfaced but will certainly be back to its old self over the next few years.Stewart made his feelings known on national TV and his Sirius Satellite Radio program. Jeff Gordon said Stewart was right but made the issue personal.Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he wasn't going to "sit here and put up with this" and pleaded with the company not to bring the tire to the Darlington test this week.The most reasonable voice in the coalition of dissatisfied drivers was Dale Jarrett, who said, "Somebody (at Goodyear) needs to wake up right now and listen to these guys. We're talking about race drivers that have a huge amount of talent and very seldom complain about things like that."Jarrett, Stewart and Gordon have totaled seven Cup championships, and Earnhardt, a former champion in the support series, can be penciled in as NASCAR's most popular driver from now until he retires. This isn't a collection of back-markers and also-rans; these are drivers who have shaped NASCAR over the last decade.It appears Goodyear made a mistake by not realizing the "apples vs. oranges" difference with the two series and its rock-like tire, which performed well on Saturday and was complaint-free, but was ripped on Sunday.The Car of Tomorrow, though, generates roughly 400 pounds less down force than the Nationwide car and doesn't need the harder tire.The point is, tires are supposed to wear. Earnhardt complained that his Atlanta tire looked pretty much like it did with the stickers on it, even after 30 laps of use. He said he would rather risk blowing out a tire than fight to drive a car with such hard tires. Stewart, meanwhile, said he was just thrilled that he didn't wreck.Trading barbs with championship drivers through the media isn't a battle Goodyear will win. In fact, the manufacturer wised up and decided not to bring the same tire to Texas for next month's race or to Darlington for the test session earlier this week.It makes you wonder if the company, which has an exclusive contract through 2011 with NASCAR, would have done anything at all if Stewart, Gordon, Earnhardt and Jarrett hadn't sounded off.Looks like if you're scoring at home, it's Drivers 1, Goodyear 0, but it's a long season full of plenty of tire wear -- maybe.(Bill Whitehead covers NASCAR for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at wwhitehe@ircc.net.)