A flat tire brought trouble to Reed Sorenson. Credit: Autostock

Newman, Sorenson upset with tires at Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Tire issues leading to accidents cost Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson sizeable losses in the Nextel Cup standings Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The only absolute fact in both cases was a tight race car right before the crashes in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

Ryan Newman Credit: Autostock

Results UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Pos. Driver Make 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 2. Matt Kenseth Ford 3. Kyle Busch Chevy 4. Kasey Kahne Dodge 5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates his Las Vegas victory Final lapsJohnson passes Kenseth in the last turn to take the win Runner-upKenseth disappointed with his second-place finish Rough racingThings get heated between Stewart and Kyle Busch Early cautionsNewman and Sorenson both smack the wall hard Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

A Goodyear spokesman during the event relayed his engineers' preliminary verdict on the deflations. After the race he said that both tires would be taken to the manufacturer's headquarters in Akron, Ohio, where he said a definitive analysis could be done.

"The bead on the right front tires were melted," Goodyear's Phil Holmer said of both cars. "Once the bead melts, obviously the tire deflates -- it's gone.

"You don't see that on a big track -- I can't remember when I've seen a bead melt before on a big track -- but it wasn't wear, it wasn't a blister or anything like that. It was actually a bead that got so hot from the brake heat, that it melted.

"The heat that gets onto the bead comes directly from the brakes. The beads can take a lot of punishment, but that's why at Martinsville they've got all the [brake] fans and ducting -- and at Bristol, also."

Newman, who came into the race seventh in the standings and left Las Vegas in 18th, was bitter about the double jeopardy dealt his No. 12 Dodge team, which lost all but 11 laps of its Saturday race practice to an engine problem.

Newman said his variable handling car had tire problems from the start. He lost a lap in the first tire run before Sorenson had his crash. Newman crashed after 88 laps and ended up in the 43rd spot.

"Goodyear's got some work to do," Newman said. "We had cords [showing] the first run. We freed the car up and we were looser the second run [then] the car got tighter and tighter each lap.

"I'm stuck. I'm running as hard as I can to try to get my lap back. It's just unfortunate [because] I thought we had a better race car than that.

"I think we did. We didn't have a practice session [Saturday] to tune on it very much. That hurt, but it didn't hurt us that bad that we showed that bad. Getting into the wall hurt a whole lot more."

Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Sorenson's No. 41 Charger brought out the race's first caution after only 41 laps when his right-front tire deflated, sending him into the Turn 2 wall.

ENGINES EXAMINED LAS VEGAS -- NASCAR spent Sunday night examining the motors from five of the top-running cars in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.  NASCAR tore down the engines of race-winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up Matt Kenseth in the garage area at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The engines of Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch were taken by NASCAR and will be torn down at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.  NASCAR takes engines, often with little notice, to measure their horsepower and gauge parity between teams.  The sanctioning body selects engines that represent all three manufacturers, sometimes taking up to 10 motors from the 43 finishers.  •   Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM

Sorenson's Ganassi Racing crew chief, Jimmy Elledge, said there was "no way" the bead on his car's right-front tire melted.

"It was really tight," Elledge said. "We had run into a set of tires like that in practice [Saturday] but it wasn't nowhere near that severe. But I promise you, it didn't melt no bead [because] you don't melt a bead in 35 laps.

"It ain't gonna happen, here. They can say what they want to -- and I support Goodyear 100 percent -- but the facts are the facts, and we didn't melt no bead."

Sorenson said he was using his car's brakes harder at the end of the race than he had in the fateful first run.

"I wasn't really using any brakes," Sorenson said of his opening run. "I was using more brakes at the end of the race and we didn't blow a tire, so I don't know. I think [maybe] it had a slow leak."

"Maybe it was a bead separation and they wanted to say we melted the bead," Elledge said. "But we didn't."

After about 60 laps, Sorenson returned to the track and ended up 40th, 64 laps down to winner Jimmie Johnson. Sorenson dropped eight positions in the standings and is 32nd after three races.

The most critical element for Sorenson is that puts him within only three positions of the critical top 35 cutoff in the Nextel Cup owners' standings, which determines guaranteed starting positions beginning at Martinsville.