A relatively quiet three hours of testing confirmed to the teams and NASCAR officials that the Goodyear tire they brought to the 1.5-mile track will work this weekend.

Without having to send wreckers out onto the track at all and no tire blowouts, it was a good sign for practice Friday and the Sprint Cup race Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN).

"We've had test days before where the end result was Goodyear's scrambling to get six more trailer loads in here to help work through the problem," NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said following the test.

"You feel good that you won't have a problem. It's a lot more secure feeling when there's 43 guys all nodding and acknowledging the fact they won't have a problem."

The drivers? Well, those who were fast were happy. Those who were not, they weren't as happy. That's typical for any race weekend.

On the outside nine inches of the "zone tread" right-side tire, the compound is the same as it was in April because it provides good traction. On the inside three inches, the tire has a more heat resistant compound to help with endurance and reduce tire wear.

The left-side tire is a more traditional tire with a new compound to give the cars more grip.

The new tire was used at Atlanta five weeks ago but the surface of that 1.5-mile track is old and worn. Kansas was repaved a year ago.

"This is a recently repaved track that is very smooth," Darby said. "We ran the zone tread at Atlanta without any technical issues or failures and had a good race, but that's on a very aggressive, coarse track surface -- one that's already known to chew up tires.

"This is kind of like the other end of the spectrum."

The hope is to give teams more options as far as setups and camber, which should mean better racing in NASCAR's never-ending quest to have quality racing on tracks that place a premium on aerodynamics.


DANICA FLIRTING REAL


Danica Patrick can't claim to be the biggest fan of country music star Colt Ford, but it was pretty easy to be in his recently released video when part of her role was flirting with boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Patrick and Stenhouse star in Ford's new "Drivin' Around Song" video that hit the web earlier this week.

As part of the video, Patrick and Stenhouse, who plays a garage mechanic, spend a little bit of time flirting with each other before Patrick steals his golf cart and takes Ford for a ride.

What was it like for Patrick to have to "act" like she was flirting with her real-life beau?

"That was not acting," Patrick said with a smile. "When I look at him, I smile. So that was not hard."

The two Sprint Cup drivers shot the video about six weeks ago in North Carolina, Patrick said Friday at Kansas Speedway.

"It's cool to see it out," she said. "It was a lot of fun to do. It was a beautiful day in Mooresville that day.

"Those are the fun things that you get to do outside of the car. I enjoyed that. That was good fun. Obviously, I had a pretty hot mechanic working on the car."


JOHNSON STILL DRIVEN


Jimmie Johnson recently turned 38 years old and his wife just gave birth to their second child.

Yet, despite already having won five Sprint Cup championships, Johnson seems just as motivated as ever. After his win last week at Dover, he trails Matt Kenseth by just eight points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Why is Johnson still so focused on winning races and another title?

"I think a lot of it is just in my DNA and the type of person I am and the family I grew up in," Johnson said Friday at Kansas Speedway. "My parents and grandparents and great grandparents were just all hard-working people. So I think I grew up in that environment and around it.

"Now, married with kids, I'm much more mature than when I started. There is an element in that that is bringing more focus and more drive."

Johnson appears to have the same drive and determination despite having less time.

"I have more things on my plate," he said. "But the time that I do a lot to train, the time that I do a lot for working with the team and coming to the track, it's just much more focused. I think the structure of family and kids and all that plays some kind of role in that, too. It mixes with the work ethic I was raised with.

"So somewhere in the mixture of those things is where it comes from. But I am happy when I accomplish things. I make lists all the time and I scratch things off my list whether it's a honey-do list or goals I make for myself. I just have that mindset where I like to work through things and accomplish things."


HYLTON RETIRING AT 79


James Hylton gingerly climbed out of his No. 48 car after ARCA practice at Kansas Speedway on Friday, and nobody could blame him for moving a little bit slower than his competitors.

He's 79 years old, after all.

The oldest driver to race in each of NASCAR's three highest divisions, Hylton was calling it a career after Friday night's race. The Cup rookie of the year in 1966, Hylton has spent the last several years of his career racing in the ARCA series.

"I know it's going to be very painful, especially the way this car drives. To be out there running with some of the top guys -- before I'd see them disappear, now I can keep them in sight," Hylton told The Associated Press. "It's a tremendous feeling. To know at the end of the day it'll all be kind of like a dream. It'll be gone but I'm going to make the best of it."

Hylton's friends put together a car they believe can compete at Kansas, and it even sports a gold paint scheme that honors the early years of his racing career.

"I'm retiring at the end of the day, but my heart is wanting to keep going," he said. "But it's a done deal. I won't be back as a driver."

Born on his family's farm in Virginia in 1934, Hylton's family had to work hard to make ends meet during the Depression. Hylton remembers toiling in the fields all day to help out.

He started driving in his father's Ford Model T -- his brother taught him how to work the pedals. And from that humble beginning, Hylton embarked on a winding career in motorsports. He served as a mechanic for Rex White and then a crew chief for Ned Jarrett in the early days of NASCAR, then got back behind the wheel and placed second in the Cup standings in 1966.

Hylton also finished second in points to Richard Petty in 1967 and '71, and won twice in more than 600 Cup starts: at Richmond in 1970 and Talladega in 1972. In all, the good-natured Hylton racked up 140 top-five finishes and 321 top-10s in the Cup series.

"Every time I see him out there in that 48, it brings a smile to my face," Jimmie Johnson said. "He got that number off to a good start. He's truly passionate and loves our sport, and it's nice to see him out there one last time."


TWEET OF THE DAY


"One thing if for [email protected] can flat throw a party!!!!" -- Clint Bowyer, apparently after a night of partying with the country music star


WHAT WE'RE WATCHING


Sprint Cup drivers will have two crucial practice sessions Saturday as they prepare for Sunday's Chase race at Kansas. Some also will compete in the Nationwide Series race Saturday afternoon, perhaps giving them a bit of an edge. How they continue to adapt to Goodyear's new tire will be a constant theme as they prepare for Chase race No. 4.

Contributors: Bob Pockrass, Sporting News staff