updated 11:58 p.m. ET March 9, 2008

HAMPTON, Ga. - Tony Stewart has gotten into it with the media. He’s taken out his frustration on fellow drivers. He’s even gone after all-mighty NASCAR.

Now Goodyear is feeling his wrath.

On a day when nearly everyone complained about the quality of tires provided for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, no one was more biting in their criticism than Stewart.

“I can’t say it’s surprising,” Stewart said. “They got run out of Formula One. They got run out of CART, the IRL. They got run out of World of Outlaws sprint cars. They got run out of USAC divisions because they couldn’t keep up and make a quality enough product.”

Ouch. And that’s from the guy who finished second to Kyle Busch in the Kobalt Tools 500.

While others were a bit more diplomatic than Stewart, just about everyone complained about the tire Goodyear decided to use on a 1.54-mile, high-banked oval that is notorious for wearing down the rubber faster than most tracks on the Cup circuit.

Carl Edwards said his shoulders were aching from struggling with the wheel all day. Jeff Gordon said he felt as if he was going to wreck on every lap. There was very little side-by-racing, with most drivers more concerned with making sure they got to the finish without getting into the wall.

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But Stewart really let loose, saying NASCAR should not have made Goodyear its sole provider of tires. The company has a five-year contract with the sanctioning body that runs through 2011, an arrangement that NASCAR prefers because it doesn’t want multiple companies competing for business at the expense of safety.

“The bad thing is they’ve got an exclusive deal,” Stewart said. “They have no reason to have to push and make their product better because they have no competition. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get them to give us a quality tire that this series and NASCAR deserves. But they obviously aren’t capable of doing it right now.

“If I were Goodyear, I would really be embarrassed about what they brought here. I guarantee you Hoosier or Firestone or somebody can come in and do a better job than they are right now.”

A Goodyear official declined to respond directly to Stewart’s complaints but defended the company’s products.

“We’re not stagnant. Things keep evolving. We’ll take this and learn from it,” said Justin Fantozzi, the marketing manager for Goodyear’s motorsports division. “We do the best job we can with the data we have. We bring the safest tire we know how to build.”

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