The controversy began this past Sunday after the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta. Despite a second place finish after it was over Stewart railed against Goodyear and the harder tire compound they brought for the right side of the cars for the event.

Stewart certainly wasn’t alone in his complaints. Many drivers spoke out about the tires and their lack of grip. Several were concerned enough to travel to a Goodyear tire test at Darlington South Carolina Monday. The rough Darlington surface is notorious for eating tires and with a race coming up there in May and with the new car many are worried that the same problems that happened at Atlanta may appear again.

While drivers were concerned, Stewart was the most vocal of the group Sunday and he continued to express his opinion Tuesday on his nationally broadcast radio show. Stewart said the problem with tires and having a sole supplier in NASCAR for those tires has been ongoing for years.

“I’ve been a part of the Cup series for 10 years now,” Stewart said. “And problems of blowing tires and getting a bad set of tires, that problem the whole 10 years I’ve been here has never been resolved and never been fixed.”

“I’m not overreacting about Goodyear tires,” Stewart added. “I’m one of the few guys that has run enough of this stuff to actually know what it is like to have driven for Firestone, to have driven for Hoosier tires, you name it. We’ve even drove for Goodyear in some of these series but what we had [Sunday] at this level of competition was not acceptable.”

For his part, Helton defended Goodyear and chided Stewart for being so vocal.