Motorsports

Temperature rises, tires take the fall

JOLIET, Ill. - With temperatures in the 90s, Sunday wasn't a good day for tires.

Carl Edwards , Dave Blaney , Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip blew out right front tires during the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick pitted, anticipating they were about to lose tires.

Points leader Johnson had problems with a right rear tire and fell a lap behind but came back to finish third.

Edwards blew a tire while running third on Lap 79 and lost 97 laps as his crew made repairs.

"We had at least two right rears come apart (Saturday) a little bit, and (Sunday) we had what appears to be a right front come apart," Edwards said. "We had a race-winning car there. That's frustrating for me."

Rick Heinrich , product manager for Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR's top three divisions, blamed the problems on the heat.

NEW FORD: Ford teams will race the new Fusion next season, according Sunday's Detroit News .

Ford scheduled a news conference Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., to announce the model that will replace the Taurus, which will be dropped from production early next year. The Fusion is scheduled to hit showrooms this fall.

UP-AND-DOWN STEWART: Tony Stewart 's two-race winning streak ended but he wasn't totally disappointed with his fifth-place finish, especially after his hard crash Friday in practice.

He ran near the front before his team opted to take four tires during the final pit stop.

"If we would have stayed out like I wanted to, we would have won the race," he said. "But we didn't want to take any chances."

[Last modified July 11, 2005, 01:01:12]