Chris Gabehart says if NASCAR fans weren’t entertained with Bristol, ‘you probably need to do something else’

Denny Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart was enthralled with the way the Food City 500 went at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday.

It’s not just because Gabehart found himself in Victory Lane. Evidently, Hamlin’s crew chief was fond of the tire fall off creating an incredible product at Bristol, as were many NASCAR fans, as well.

“I mean, fantastic,” Gabehart said, regarding the way Hamlin managed the tire falloff. “I think it’s ironic, you know, this is what the drivers have been asking for, and it maybe happened organically. But I think you got a good sample of just what a great race it can be when everybody’s caught off guard, doesn’t know what to expect. There’s not these tweaks of adjustment and these drivers just out there going wide open. They’ve got to make a lot of decisions. So do the crew chiefs, so do the teams. Ton of pitstops. Ton of comers and goers.

“I don’t know. I mean, maybe I’m biased, but if you weren’t entertained in that race, then you probably need to do something else.”

Continuing, Gabehart relented that while it was something that the teams weren’t expecting, the tires created a memorable afternoon in Bristol.

“That’s what’s so awesome about it. I mean, everyone was thrown such a big curveball,” Gabehart added. “Not only yesterday in practice, but again today in the race, when we realized that the track wasn’t gonna rubber up, like everyone thought. It forces everyone into the game. Every part of the team. The pit crew’s gonna make a ton of stops. Denny’s got to manage a situation that he wasn’t planning on having to manage. The crew chiefs, the engineers, the tire specialists. I mean, we wore our behind the wall guys out, having to get all these tires together and go through so many. And then Goodyear, they’re worn out. Trying to get another set mounted to the teams, and how are we going to manage them? And then, at the end of the race, you’ve got to manage a green flag pit cycle.

“I mean, I can’t imagine what the prop bet in Vegas was for was there gonna be a green flag pit stop at the end of this race, but somebody made a lot of money, if they bet there was gonna be. Because not a single person in the house thought there was gonna be, and then lo and behold, you’ve got to manage the green flag pit cycle on top of it. So what a great race.”

Alas, Denny Hamlin and his team can be proud of an awesome win at Bristol. It might not have been NASCAR and Goodyear’s intention, but the tire falloff made for an incredible race in Tennessee on Sunday.