The Food City 500 on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway was a tire wear chaos. Combination of goodyears rubber compound and the resin that was put on the track instead of PJ1, proved to be lethal combination. The rubber instead of getting laid on the track, became marbles and after the race the whole track looked like it was infested by seaweed.
2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott addressed this wild situation, where drivers experienced massive fall off and NASCAR almost ran out of tire. He admitted that it was a fun experience that but admitted that NASCAR has to find a balance as it was a little to extreme to occur every race.
It was a lot of fun. I think there’s probably a little better balance somewhere there, but I had a good time.
Elliott told NBC’s Dustin Long.
From Elliott’s words it is clear the most of the racers agrees on the fact that NASCAR is on the right track to solve the short-track racing issue. But the Bristol combination should be just an inspiration as using the same wouldn’t be sustainable option for NASCAR as well as the teams.
Chase Elliott’s teammate Kyle Larson wasn’t a fan of the Bristol race
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion, wasn’t a fan of how the race turned out. He wasn’t expecting such tire fall off like everyone else in the garage and despite securing a top-5 finish admitted that he doesn’t want to see such race ever again.
It was weird and interesting. I thought some rubber was gonna be laid down, but after the second run, we realized that wasn't going to be the case. I hope I never have to run a race like that again. Larson said.
Many drivers on the grid, such as reigning champion Ryan Blaney shared similar thoughts on the race. He pointed out that though it as fun, such extreme tire wear shouldn’t occur. NASCAR has to find the balance as pointed out by Chase Elliott to sort this issue.
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