Tony Stewart vs. Goodyear

Tony Stewart had a cordial meeting with Stu Grant, the Goodyear general manager of worldwide racing, on a rainy Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Stewart said he was grateful for the opportunity to talk to Grant and was hopeful Goodyear would be more receptive to the drivers' and NASCAR team's concerns in the future.
"We’re hoping that Goodyear will now work with us a little better on the racing side of things and rely on our input a little more, because we are the ones driving the cars," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "It was a good meeting, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Goodyear to make it right. If having this meeting helps to make things better down the road, then this meeting was a success."
Stewart was critical of the performance of the Goodyear tires after finishing second in the Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. A number of drivers have raised concerns about the quality of tire being used in races, but none were as vocal as Stewart.
“My comments last week were made in frustration and made to get Goodyear’s attention," Stewart said. "But what I overlooked when I made those comments was that they affected people who had nothing to do with the racing program. I want to apologize to the people who work in the factories and the union workers at Goodyear. We realize that they’re working hard just like everybody else, and we realize that Goodyear as a whole works hard too. But our comments last week were not meant to offend those people, because they’re not the ones making the decisions about the racing tires we use here at the track."
However, Stewart told the Associated Press that some of the drivers in Cup are not happy with the tires Goodyear has made available to NASCAR teams.
“We all can’t be wrong. Not all of us can be wrong about it all the time," Stewart said to the Associated Press. "You hate that it’s come to this, but that’s what happened. I don’t want to hear what they’re doing, I don’t want to hear what they want to do, I don’t want to hear what they’re planning on doing — I just want to
see what happens and see what the end result of that is.
“As long as that’s a better deal then we’ll be back on their side. But they have some work to do.”
Grant said he was pleased with the meeting he had with Stewart and called it "excellent" and "constructive."
"It was extremely worthwhile to sit down and have a discussion with him," Grant said. "Tony was able to express his concerns and I listened to his concerns. I was able to explain our process, and we both talked about how moving forward, we can improve the process of developing tires for NASCAR Sprint Cup racing together.”