HAMPTON, Ga. -- The balancing act between safety concerns and competition that Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. faces each week was the post-race focus of several top finishers Sunday. It left both sides defensive and fans wondering what happened to the typical side-by-side racing for which Atlanta Motor Speedway is famous.

Tony Stewart, who finished second in the Kobalt Tools 500, and third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. were outspoken in their criticism for the tire compound brought to Atlanta. There were no tire failures reported during the race, but the two agreed that the harder tire made it almost impossible for drivers to run side-by-side. Only thirteen cars were on the lead lap at the finish.

"That was the most pathetic racing tire that I've ever been on in my professional career," Stewart said. "... Goodyear can't build a tire that is worth a crap. If I were Goodyear, I would be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought here. It didn't keep us from winning the race and how we got to second, I don't know (hear more)."

Junior was more diplomatic in his criticism.

"I'll say that Goodyear Tire Company makes good racing tires, makes a safe tire," Junior said. "There's a lot of technology that goes into making the tires and I give them a lot of credit. It's a reputation-risk, just to be in this sport for a company like that, especially ... as far as criticism goes. They do a good job. This is just a bad combination. This tire at this track, it was just a poor combination (hear more)."

Jeff Gordon finished fifth, and echoed the comments made by Stewart and Earnhardt.

"I felt like I was going to crash every single lap," Gordon said. "I'm exhausted right now. I feel like I've run a thousand miles here. That was the hardest day I have ever had at Atlanta, especially for a top-five finish. This car, this tire, at this track was just terrible."

Justin Fantozzi, marketing manager for Goodyear motorsports, defended his company's decision to bring a harder tire to Atlanta.

"I've heard what they said, "Fantozzi said. "To get into attacks in the media is not the right place. We're tremendously proud of the wear rates that we saw here. We had a defined development process for this particular tire. We started in August, with a development test here at Atlanta. From those wear rates and those data sets, we then made a recommendation for the open house test that was a different tire than we actually raced on here in October.

"Based on those wear rates not being acceptable, in our opinion, we then went back and did another development test here in December and then we made that recommendation for here." (Continued)