INDIANAPOLIS — For the second time in the last four years, a tire situation ruined a major auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was plagued by tire-wear issues, which reduced the event to a series of short sprints. The 2005 U.S. Grand Prix Formula One race saw only six cars compete after the teams using Michelin tires withdrew following the parade lap because of safety concerns. Eventually, Michelin refunded ticket money to attending fans.
Goodyear, as it is for all NASCAR events, was the sole tire supplier for Sunday’s race, which saw full participation from NASCAR teams, but a less than appealing result.
Fingers were pointed in a lot of directions after NASCAR learned that the tires Goodyear built for the 15th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard weren’t going to last the full distance between projected fuel stops.
The problems included NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow, which had never been run competitively at the 2.5-mile flat superspeedway’s abrasive pavement  and a tire that didn’t lay rubber down on the racing surface.
The cars, the tires and 200,000 or more fans were there and the race had to go on.
The decision was made by NASCAR to call a competition-caution period 10 laps into the race to assess wear.
It wasn’t enough as tires began to wear the tread down to the cord, especially on the right front, and the first caution came out on lap four when Michael Waltrip had a right-rear tire shred.
From there, it was a constant parade every 10-12 laps, down pit road for tires.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, NASCAR apologized for the fiasco during a weekly media teleconference.

“I can’t say enough how sorry we are and it’s our responsibility being NASCAR that we don’t go through this situation again,” said Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition. “The race didn’t come off like we had hoped, the fans didn’t get what they exactly wanted and we’ll do everything in our power — it won’t happen again, I can tell you that much.”

Despite lobbying by some teams to add an open test at Indianapolis, NASCAR refused, banking on results from a three-team Goodyear tire test held there in April.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George told The Indianapolis Star that the problem is NASCAR's to sort out.

“The problem is solely (NASCAR’s), and by that I mean it’s theirs to figure out,” George told The Star. “It’s not going to come with anything we do to the track. Figuring it out will only come with getting the car and tire combination right, and that requires actually spending the time and effort to do something about it.

“The track won’t change next year, so if they want to come back, they better figure it out because I don’t think the fans want to come back and see that.”

A Goodyear official appearing on Eli Gold's NASCAR-themed radio show Tuesday night said the company is working to secure test dates at Indianapolis this fall in addition to next year's planned tests.

WORN OUT: A crew member on the No. 99 team assesses tire wear Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (HHP/Alan Marler Photo)

The race went the advertised 400 miles, but the speed was reduced to 115.117 miles per hour.
All teams had at least nine sets of tires for the race, and Goodyear shipped in 800 right-side and 800 left-side Pocono tires to ensure there would be enough to finish the race in a worst-case scenario.
There was criticism aimed at NASCAR and Goodyear because of a lack of testing of the tires to be used by a new race car on a track known to be abrasive.
A three-car test was held in April, but there was no open test.
Driver Matt Kenseth, who suffered a blown tire early in Sunday’s race, questioned the lack of open testing as it related to Indianapolis.
“It’s a really disappointing situation,” he said. “This is one of the two biggest races of the year and never having had this tire here before, and not coming in to do an open test and work on these things and work on the tire…It’s pretty darn disappointing.
“We were running three-quarter speed because we were worried about the tires blowing out, and they get blown out every eight laps.”
That a problem was likely to arise was not a surprise to NASCAR officials.
“You know, everybody’s got a little skin in the game here,” said NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton “You know, I think everybody knew that. The teams knew it. We knew it. Goodyear knew it.
“I think that’s why you saw everybody working together on pit road today, in the tower and in the Goodyear building, to do everything we could to manage the tire, to put on the best race we could for the fans.
“So, you know, we’ve got one time we didn’t do the right thing. We tried to put our best foot forward and make the best judgment calls that we could getting prepared for this race. For sure, it didn’t come off the way we wanted it to.”