Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Bubba Wallace suggests red flagging race at Bristol until Monday due to lack of tires

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated 3/17/24

Right now, NASCAR is having to deal with major tire wear at Bristol, and Bubba Wallace has an idea for how they should deal with it. The teams started with nine sets of sticker tires and their qualifying scuffs, for ten total sets.

Early on in this race, it became obvious that tires were being chewed up. No rubber was being laid out on the track. Instead, all of the tire wear was marbling up. That has been making the high side of the track dangerous to race on.

Bubba Wallace was told by his crew chief that Goodyear wouldn’t be able to get more tires to the track in order to finish the race. So, Bubba suggested a drastic change.

“They’ve got what, three and a half hours to load up a trailer and get it up here? They could just red flag it and run it tomorrow,” Wallace said on the radio, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

Bubba Wallace is told by Bootie Barker that NASCAR/Goodyear doesn't have enough tires to finish the race.

Bubba: "They've got what, three and a half hours to load up a trailer and get it up here? They could just red flag it and run it tomorrow."
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) March 17, 2024

Now Bubba Wallace could have been making a joke, but there is a concern there aren’t enough tires to make the end of the race. Goodyear is issuing one additional set to each team. That is on top of the nine sticker sets. So, we will see how it all plays out in the end.

I would lean toward this being sarcasm. However, there is a concern that teams are going to be on scuffs or beat up tires by the time we get to lap 500. We are barely halfway through this race and tires are going like hot cakes.

That extra set of tires will help. Even so, teams will have to manage their rubber as best as they can.

Bubba Wallace led early, has had issues since

Early on in this race, drivers took off to the front. The Toyotas all looked strong, Ryan Blaney looked great, and there were multiple lead changes. Then, everyone started to catch onto what was happening with the tires.

Before we were through Stage 1, drivers and teams had gone through a few sets. Bubba Wallace led laps early, he was in the mix to win the stage. However, either due to tire fall off or managing his tires, he fell back into the field as the race went on.

Right now, it is Ty Gibbs who is classing the field. Even when he falls back, he’s able to sprint to the front with the pure speed of his car. His team used up scuffs earlier in this race. Now, he just wants to manage his tires and try to get to the end of this one in one piece.

Should Ty Gibbs win this race today, he’s already won both stages, he will become the youngest winner at Bristol severe in the Cup Series. Teams are going to get that extra set of tires and hope they can make it to the finish line.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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