NASCAR: Goodyear says higher speeds contributed to Tony Stewart’s test crash at Indy

By Jun 20, 2014, 4:00 PM EDT
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Goodyear said that “increased, sustained speed” over a 20-lap run led to his crash during this week’s tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Tony was approaching the end of a very strong 20-lap run, with his lap times as much as a second faster than what has become the norm at Indianapolis at that point of a run,” said Goodyear racing director Greg Stucker in a statement.

“It appears that increased, sustained speed over that run generated a significant amount of heat, which eventually caused the right-front to go down.  Those are the conditions we have to consider in making the right decisions for the race.”

Stewart did talk with NASCAR medical personnel after the crash, which took place during a part of the test that was closed to the media. However, he was OK afterwards.

The statement says that Goodyear will continue to talk to teams before coming up with a final recommendation on tires for the Brickyard 400 at Indy next month.

However, Goodyear general manager of worldwide racing Stu Grant has told Motor Racing Network that a different, harder left-side tire will be used for the Brickyard to address what happened with Stewart – who was running the 2013 tire combination on both the left and right sides at the time of his crash.

Grant told MRN’s Dustin Long that by running a harder tire on the left side, the car will slow down and help save the right-side tires.

“We’re going to stay with the 2013 right-side tire for this year because we know that that compound rubbers in the race track,’’ he added.

“Wear and rubbering in that race track is a big deal as you know from 2008. We were able to run a gas (run) on the right side tires. We’re confident that our wear is going to be OK.’’

In addition to releasing their findings on the Stewart test crash, Goodyear announced that it would run the same left-side tire from 2013 at Chicagoland as well as the right-side “multi-zone” tire that was ran earlier this year at Texas.

Also, Kentucky is likely to feature the same left/right tire combination as last year following a confirmation test. More tire tests are slated for Richmond in early July and Homestead-Miami in late August.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”