Over the past few years there has been several constants when it comes to NASCAR racing, one of them seems to be a yearly complaint by drivers and teams about the tires being offered by Goodyear.

Since 1989 Goodyear has enjoyed a monopoly when it comes to supplying tires for Sprint Cup competition. In recent years drivers have complained about excessive wear at certain tracks resulting in

blow outs and crashes and several times the teams have complained about a lack of grip.

Back in 1988 the Indiana based Hoosier Tire started supplying tires to a small number of teams competing at the highest level of stock car racing. In fact the entire starting field for the 1989 Daytona 500

used Hoosier Tires when there was a safety concern with Goodyear radial tires.

NASCAR decided to put an end to any tire war when it announced that each manufacturer had to bring enough tires to every event for all the teams. With only 18 employees at the time, Hoosier Tire was forced to end its relationship with the teams using its rubber.

The outcry about poorly designed tires for a certain track reached a crescendo following the Kobolt Tools 500 at Atlanta. Former champion Tony Stewart said Goodyear can’t manufacture a decent

tire; four-time champion Jeff Gordon complained about the lack of grip; Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it was a terrible race because drivers couldn’t compete side by side. Even race winner Kyle Busch proclaimed it was like driving on ice.

Aside from NASCAR drivers complaining about tires, have any Indy Racing League teams moaned about Firestone rubber. There are no complaints being voiced by ARCA teams, late model racers or open wheel teams about the Hoosier Tires they use.

The only complaint about tires aside from NASCAR was the disaster at the U.S. Grand Prix several years ago when Michelin brought a tire deemed unsafe for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With a monopoly in NASCAR, Goodyear should be able to create a better tire that will allow for side by side racing without the threat of blow outs punching a hole in competition.

A lot of pundits are writing about the renewal of NASCAR so far this season, but in my opinion the year is not off to an exciting start.

Aside from the Daytona 500 the other three races have been sleepers. Busch won at Atlanta by over two-seconds and prior to that Carl Edwards had built up a seven-second lead before a mechanical failure.

The California race finished under caution and the Las Vegas finish

was saved by a green-white checker finish that bunched up the field at the end.