“Temper your expectations. We’re driving spec race cars.”
Since the launch of the NASCAR Next Gen car, the product on short tracks have suffered. With identical cars from the front to the back of the field, it’s harder than ever to pass.
NASCAR has chased the problem for years. They’ve made adjustments to body with the hopes of fixing the problem with aerodynamics but it hasn’t repaired the problem.
The Spring race at Bristol saw extreme tire wear. It turned into a happy accident as most executives spoke highly on the product it produced. It was a new solution to the same problem.
Goodyear tire wear will purposefully be a part of the story at Bristol
Heading into Saturday’s race at Bristol, Goodyear and NASCAR were hoping for more of the same. They brought the same tire compound and planned to prep the track the same as the Spring.
Yet, it didn’t happen and tear wear was non-existent. Instead, after 100 laps of a set of tires only results in a few tenths slower lap time.
The race was a snooze. Kyle Larson went on to leap 496 of 500 laps. And after the race, the winner has joined the conversation about tires.
NASCAR ‘disappointed’ with lack of Bristol tire wear
Kyle Larson comments on Bristol tire wear
“All this tire wear talk about Bristol got me wondering… have we ever had a lot tire wear at Bristol besides the spring of 24? Eh, not much of any,” Kyle Larson stated via X.
“Have we seen great races there? Absolutely. Have we seen duds where Kyle Busch leads 300+laps? Sure.”
“From what I remember in my career before the Next Gen car was we had cars with some disparity that could run closer to one another in traffic and a wheel/tire combo that got hotter which in essences gave us less grip on the long run. I’ve ran with 900hp all the way down to 650hp or less potentially, high downforce, low downforce and everything in between.”
“Bristol’s ALWAYS been tough to pass. Speed on pit road and most likely there’s a good chance you’re going a lap down on the next run. That’s the way it is and has been for a very long time.”
“We had more natural cautions from wrecks because cars could run closer and we never quite made it a full fuel run because eventually someone’s RF tire would explode from overheating.”
“I’m not saying I want tires to explode again but we’re trying to crutch this race car on short tracks with the tire and then blame Goodyear every week cause cars can’t pass.”
“I don’t have the answer to fix what we currently have and neither do you but please stop blaming Goodyear. It’s not a tire problem.”
“And also, have any of you ran around Bristol with or without PJ1? Or resin for that matter. Yeah that’s right… so (zip it).”
Larson concluded, “Temper your expectations. We’re driving spec race cars.”
NASCAR reacts after accidentally creating more tire wear at Bristol
Logan Seavey comments
Logan Seavey commented, “You know who doesn’t have all these issues? Sprint cars. Go get a FloRacing subscription and enjoy.”
Links
Kyle Larson | Goodyear Racing | Bristol Motor Speedway | NASCAR
