CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 19: Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Monster Energy Ford, pits during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 19, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
The 2018 Charlotte All-Star race won’t feature two tire compounds
Racing News
The soft and hard tire still isn’t a ‘dead’ topic
The 2017 NASCAR All-Star race featured a bit of an experiment. The softer “option” tire was deigned to add a new element of excitement to the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Unfortunately, the soft tire didn’t work out as planned. In practice, the differances between the soft and hard tire offered a .3-4 tenth of a second advantage. However, the differential in speed between the soft and hard tires, wasn’t there in the race.
Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing hinted that the new element wasn’t a dead issue. It just won’t return for the 2018 All-Star event.
“I think it really lends itself to a race like the All-Star,” Stucker told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I think there’s some real opportunities there.”
“We all kind of figured last year we needed about three to four-tenths (of a second) between the prime tire and the option tire. That’s exactly what we had when we did back to backs in the daytime.”
“But when the race came along and it cooled down, the cooler temperatures kind of leveled everything out. I think the difference between the prime and the option wasn’t big enough last year to overcome the aerodynamic advantage of a guy who was out front.”
The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race will run on May 19th, 2018 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.