Racing

Jimmie Johnson had another victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won just in time because one of his tires decided to explode near the finish line. Over the weekend NASCAR was miffed when one of its best events was derailed due to tire problems.

Goodyear’s product was unable to withstand driving 10 or more laps at a time -which caused chaos during the Brickyard 400. The whole thing ended when Johnson passed Carl Edwards during the end of a seven lap run to finish.

“Every lap I was concerned about it. Every corner, for that matter,” Johnson said. Goodyear and NASCAR were left to explain why the race became a debacle. The tire issue cropped up early Saturday, when drivers learned during the first practice they could only last anywhere from three to 10 laps before the rubber wore down to the cords.

“We came with the best tire we had for the conditions and we fell short,” said Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear. There were 11 yellow flags, and NASCAR threw six competition cautions to force teams to pit and change their tires.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt that the event was not a total disaster, “The truth of the deal is that was the best show we could put on today,” he said. “It’s all we could do aside from loading up and going home and not running at all.”