by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: March 10, 2008, 8:23 PM EST 52 comments

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Goodyear does not make good day tires, they make good year tires. You kind of average it out — sometimes you nail the tire combination and it's perfect, sometimes you err on the wrong side and you get in trouble with people blowing tires, and sometimes you are too conservative.

I wish that all of us — drivers and everybody else — would realize the challenge that Goodyear is facing with this new car.

I understand. I've driven on tires that absolutely make me want to scream, I've also won races on tires that were far from perfect. But the thing you gotta realize is that you can't change your pick and choose what you want to race, everybody has the same tire. That's what Goodyear has to deal with.

The other challenge the tire manufacturer faces is situations like this weekend, where they had three different vehicles they had to make tires for — the Craftsman Truck Series on Friday, the Nationwide Series on Saturday and the Sprint Cup cars on Sunday. All three of those vehicles all have different downforce numbers and they all race differently, so Goodyear has to get it in the middle when they are facing that type of situation.

You got a new car that has a lot of unknowns, has a lot of right-side weight and less downforce. Remember, the Nationwide car and the trucks produce a lot more downforce, which puts more pressure on the tires.

So when you take all those elements and put them all together, you have to go with the choice that is not only the safest tire but is also the best tire for all three series.

The tires at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, from the time the guys tested them in December and then in late January to when they arrived for the race last week, was a good tire and it was fast. Nobody complained about the handling of the car, but you saw a few guys have tires issues — Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch come to mind.

Then you go to Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is a really fast racetrack with quite a bit of banking — 24 degrees — so you have to err on the side of safety. You have to be a bit conservative when going to a track with a new car like that which you are not sure about. Goodyear is like the teams, they don't have any information to look at. They don't have any results or data to look at on past experiences because it was the first time the Cup Series raced at the 1.54-mile track with the new car.

I'm not making any excuses for Goodyear, and I'm not driving a car, but I do understand why the drivers were upset. You cannot fix a race car with tires alone. Tires do make a huge difference, but everybody has to anticipate in order to not only correct the problems but also help improve the situation.

NASCAR and the teams have to get involved and help the car. Everybody has to do their part, and no one person or group can take the blame. NASCAR can't take all the blame for the car not having all the front-end geometry that these teams like and Goodyear can't take all the blame for putting tires on the car that frustrated many drivers.

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And oh yeah, to my knowledge, no tire failures took place over the weekend other than on Kyle Busch's Nationwide Series car on Saturday, but I'm pretty sure that happened because of a part failure and not the tire itself.

We all call Atlanta Motor Speedway "The fastest track on the circuit." You can't show up there with tires that can take that sort of abuse.

That's my take on the tire thing. I can understand the drivers being upset. I think that in order to make the drivers happy with the car, Goodyear has to be a bit on the edge as far as their tire selections go — but my history with Goodyear makes me believe that they aren't going to do that. That's not their style.

Everybody wanted a car that was harder to drive, everybody wanted to put the race back in the driver's hands and have teams stop relying on aerodynamics and other things they have focused on all these years. Yesterday, it was back in the driver's hands. Guess what? They didn't like it and they were not very happy.

Oh, by the way

You gotta admit that Kyle Busch has absolutely been something to watch these first four races as well as in the Nationwide Series and in the Craftsman Truck Series — where he is the championship leader as well.

He has been putting on a show. He has been aggressive, fast, exciting, wild, all over the place ... but basically he has been out there in a league of his own, and it ain't the Busch league either.

Kyle has stepped up his game and both Joe Gibbs Racing (Cup and Nationwide) and Billy Ballew (trucks) are giving him equipment that compliments his driving style. You have to have a good handling vehicle to be able to go down on the apron at Atlanta and be able to pass four trucks. You have to have a good handling vehicle so that Busch can drive the way he does.

My hat's off to Kyle for his incredible driving ability and also to the teams that are working with him to be able to provide the equipment it takes so he can use all the ability that he has.

That's a sharp looking race car, no wonder it won (Kyle Busch / Getty Images)

Right now it's going so well, and I'll say this, we're going to Bristol — a place where you can't be aggressive or cast everything to the wind like maybe you can at a wide track like Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway or even Atlanta Motor Speedway. Bristol takes a lot of finesse, patience and restraint. People are going to run into you and you are going to get mad, but you have to be able to control that.

In my mind, this weekend will show me how much Kyle has grown as a driver and as a man because Bristol will test your patience and it'll stretch your limits. I'm anxious to see how he does.

Busch's style and Bristol really don't go together, so his crew chief Steve Addington and all the people that are working with him are going to have to focus on keeping him calm, cool and collected. If they can do that, he'll have another incredible weekend.

He's the defending winner of this race — he won the first Car of Tomorrow race last season — and when you combine that with the momentum he has and the way his cars are working right now, he needs to capitalize on things right now.

So far, so good. I've been proud of him.

Everybody in the garage — Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. — are all giving the man a lot of credit for what he has been able to accomplish so far.

Speaking of Kyle Busch, I loved his car this weekend. That Snickers paint job with the flames was beautiful. He did a beautiful job.

One final "Oh, by the way"

Congratulations to Toyota. Having worked very closely with them through the years, from their introduction to the sport in the Craftsman Truck Series and seeing all the growing pains they went through last year when they made their Cup debut — they kept their nose down and worked hard, now they've added a winning driver and a winning team and they are getting the results.

All that is from the work that not only Gibbs has done, obviously they put the finishing touches on the product, but it's from the hard work of my brother, Team Red Bull and Bill Davis Racing. A lot of hard work was done by a lot of people and Gibbs came in with his crowd — engine builder Mark Cronquist and a host of others — to put the finishing touches.

The Gibbs guys are on their game right now, but don't forget that Brian Vickers had a great run at Atlanta as well.

All the Toyota teams have a lot to look forward to for the rest of this year. Congratulations to my friends at Toyota.