Pastrana continues to adapt to radial tires as he heads to Chicagoland

Travis Pastrana

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

Greci, who normally serves as Pastrana’s crew chief in the K&N Pro Series East, will guide the 11-time X Games gold medal winner for RAB Racing this weekend.

The K&N Series, where Pastrana owns 11 starts and Greci four championships, competes with Goodyear’s bias ply tires while the Nationwide cars run on Goodyear’s radial tires. Greci said Pastrana needs to adapt to the Nationwide radial tire as well as he has to the K&N’s bias ply tire.

GRECI: “Goodyear’s radial and bias ply tires are fantastic tires, but they feel tremendously different to the driver. Travis has a lot of talent. He’s been successful in the East cars because the bias ply tires are more forgiving. He can manhandle them and drive the wheels off of them and still run fast laps. The Nationwide radial tires are totally different. The more you manhandle a radial tire the slower you go. Travis needs to find the balance between the two different tires. I really think once he can get a chance to drive a Nationwide car on a consistent basis he will learn the tire and start having better results.”

PASTRANA ON CHICAGOLAND: “I am hoping for a better outing this weekend. I did learn a lot last weekend, but it was still disappointing. I still have a lot to learn about the Nationwide tires. I tend to over drive the radial tire and get myself in trouble. But with each race I run I think I am getting better. The K&N bias ply tires seem to fit my driving style a little better. I can drive the K&N cars like I do my rally car. When you do that in a Nationwide car you go really slow. It’s a learning process which we knew would take some time. Our goal this weekend is the same as it has been all year—finish every lap.”

Source: Michael Waltrip Racing