With tires wearing out at an unsustainable pace in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR has given the OK to allow Goodyear to distribute one more set of tires to each race team.
“NASCAR just confirmed they’ll give teams one extra set of tires. But that’s it,” Performance Racing Network reported. “Goodyear officials told @GuruGarrow they had enough for an additional set but no more. Teams will simply have to figure it out from here.”
Teams were given nine sets of tires prior to the race, however, most teams had run through three sets during Stage 1. Multiple caution flags were thrown as a result of drivers blowing out tires, most notably Kyle Busch on Lap 123.
Tire management will indeed be a major part in deciding the victor at Bristol with many teams using different strategies. During a pit stop ahead of the end of Stage 2, Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team opted to go with stickers on the left side and scuffs on the right side.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes tire management challenges at Bristol
The major issue has been that no rubber is being laid out on the track. Instead, all of the tire wear is marbling up. While you can imagine it’s a less-than-ideal situation for some teams, the result has been an enthralling race reminiscent of the short-track racing seen in previous decades.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in many of those races and has certainly been enjoying the action at Bristol.
“Hell yes. Managing tire wear in a Cup race? Been a long time. Fascinating stuff,” Earnhardt tweeted. “Is running low or high better for wear? Better be smart on the short run to make the long run a success.”
Earnhardt added in a follow-up tweet: “Bravo @GoodyearRacing These drivers have got to be smart with these tires today. We will see who can balance pushing toward the front vs. killing their tires. This is fun to watch.”
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