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TALLADEGA, Ala. — When a tire does its job, nobody talks about it.

For the third time this season, people are talking about tires.

Though a thrilling finish in the AMP Energy 500 and drought-snapping win by Tony Stewart may have overshadowed the issues immediately following the race, tire explosions had dire consequences for several drivers. Two caused wrecks, including a nine-car pileup midway through the race and one sent a driver to an over-night hospital stay.

But teams left Talladega on Sunday with little information as to what happened or how to fix it.

"I was worried all the way back on Friday when the 88 blew a tire," points leader Jimmie Johnson said about the car driven by teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. "From my point of view, you run something over, you cut a tire, you shred it, it falls down. When they explode like that, in my opinion, something went wrong with the tire that caused it to explode. I know everybody felt comfortable that the 88 ran over something on Friday, but I just didn't think so."

Earnhardt was an early victim of tire explosions. His Chevrolet collided with David Gilliland after his right rear tire exploded during practice. Both drivers had to go to backup cars and Earnhardt had to change his motor.

David Reutimann's tire exploded early and turned him sideways in front of Jeff Gordon. The accident resembled Earnhardt's from two days before.

Later Brian Vickers' right-front tire exploded and set in motion a nine-car wreck that took out, among others, Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne.

Denny Hamlin's accident had the biggest personal consequences. He blew a tire midway through the race, which sent his car shooting up the race track and into the SAFER barrier. Hamlin was in the lead, and no other car was harmed in his wreck. But the driver of the No. 11 had to be helped out of his car and spent Sunday night in a Birmingham Hospital after complaining of headaches. Hamlin was released from the hospital Monday.

"I don't know if anybody really has an explanation," said Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief. "It wasn't wear. It certainly didn't seem like a heat issue. But a lot of them lost air."

Goodyear didn't have any explanation either. During the race, Goodyear product manager Rick Heinrich said the company would need to do some research to determine what went wrong.

The tire compound was exactly the same one used in April's race at Talladega Superspeedway. Heinrich said it was brought back because of its success in the spring. Talladega rarely sees tire issues.

Though right-side tires were the victims, both front and rear tires failed and not always in the same way.

"It does suggest that something is influencing the tire," Heinrich said. "We've seen too many tires that look too good and we've got really good conditions for tires. The ambient temperature is reasonable. Tires haven't shown any signs of heat or stress. That's the perplexing thing, the lack of commonality. We've had right fronts, right rears, some of the tires look different."

The tire problems didn't cause as pervasive failures as they did in Indianapolis, where tires turned to dust in 10 or 15 laps. And neither did they impact the handling like they did in Atlanta, where drivers felt a maddening lack of control and begged Goodyear to change the compound.

But enough exploded and caused enough damage to leave a trail of drivers shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders, and others afraid they'd suffer the same fate.

"I was nervous with the tires blowing for no reason," Earnhardt said. "Already had one blow this weekend for no reason and we had a lot more blowing for no reason in the ARCA race; them Hoosier tires ain't doing no better. It's some kind of combination to do with the surface and the tire, obviously."