Goodyear will unlikely invite Tony Stewart back to a tire test.
The Goodyear versus Tony Stewart feud is not going away any time soon. Less than a week after Stewart lambasted Goodyear following the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta, the tire company has publicly stated that they have no plans to invite Stewart back to a tire test.
Goodyear representative Greg Stucker comfirmed that it was not because of Stewart's harsh criticism of the tire compound. Stewart participated in a tire test at Las Vegas in December and was supposedly less than thrilled to be involved.
“Tony (and other NASCAR drivers) was invited to the Las Vegas tire test in December because he was very vocal about his displeasure with the Las Vegas race track and our tire recommendation previously...He was there, but I would say he probably really wasn’t involved. He wasn’t into it … If he’s not going to be more constructive than he has been recently or was at that test, no, he won’t get another test. We look for people that want to be engaged that provide us with feedback, to be there to do what we need...Tony made it very clear that he would have (rather) been someplace else and he really wasn’t very cooperative as far as giving us feedback," said Stucker Friday morning at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Stewart, who has never been a fan of testing, must provide the tire company his assessment of the tire at these tests. If he wants to call out the tire company, at least try to help the situation when given the opportunity. I really like Stewart, and there is a chance that Stucker is exaggerating. We'll see what Stewart's response it later when he addresses the media, because we all know that he will.
Goodyear is refusing to back down from NASCAR's most vocal driver.
