As the rest of the Sprint Cup fraternity ducked and dodged their way around the puddles in the garage area of the Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday Tony Stewart and Goodyear's racing General Manager Stu Grant talked about last Sunday's race in Atlanta and Stewart's subsequent comments.
In what will go down in the annals as one of the most damning volleys of criticism levied against the company by a driver using a Goodyear product, Stewart's post-Atlanta outburst about the tyres used in last Sunday's race was echoed, albeit not quite as venomously, by several of his rivals in the days that followed.
Squarely backed into a corner despite protestations that they were happy with their Atlanta tyre Goodyear now find themselves with little choice but to listen more closely to driver feedback, which seemed to start when Stewart and Grant sat down to discuss their opinions on the current range of products on Friday.
“I'm glad the weather gave us a break in the schedule that allowed us to meet this afternoon, and I appreciate Stu taking the time to meet with me,” said Stewart in a statement released by his Joe Gibbs Racing team. “We're hoping that Goodyear will now work with us a little better on the racing side of things and rely on our input a little more, because we are the ones driving the cars. It was a good meeting, but at the end of the day, it's up to Goodyear to make it right. If having this meeting helps to make things better down the road, then this meeting was a success.”
Stewart did not apologise for the comments he made about the tyres on live TV, radio and in the post race press conference, but he did apologise to some of the people within Goodyear he criticised, admitting that frustration may have got the better of him in the minutes that followed what was widely regarded as a torrid afternoon at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
![Tony Stewart - Home Depot Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/300248.jpg)
