When Top Fuel rookie Ashley Sanford headed home to Fullerton, Calif., the left rear tire from her Lagana Brothers-owned K1 Speed/805 Beer Dragster headed in the opposite direction, to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company at Akron, Ohio.

The big slick deflated during her early Saturday qualifying run, and public-relations representative Lee Elder said the tire revealed a cut from an unknown source.

“There was an obvious cut, and it went in the shape of the tire. We are sending it back to Akron to have our research people look at it to determine exactly what it was. But it was a very obvious cut on the sidewall, inside – not inside the tire, but on the inside sidewall of the tire,” he said. “Something got underneath the car and cut it.”

Elder said Goodyear has analysts “looking at every tire after every run on every car in the nitro classes and in Pro Stock. We have seen so many of these that our guys, generally speaking, have a pretty good idea where to look, in terms of what it might be.

“When our research people get hold of it, with all their experience, all their many years they’ve been looking at things like this, they’ll be able to come to a pretty good determination. They look at it microscopically . . . very, very intently . . . just about every molecule they look to see precisely what it was. This is the same group that looks at street tires and road tires the public gets. We get a huge amount of data about the materials that way. It’s the same people who look at that stuff who look at our racing tires also.”

Sanford qualified 14th and lost to Steve Torrence in the opening round of eliminations.