Kevin Harvick reacts to tire falloff at Bristol, weighs quality of race

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Bristol on Saturday had its share of tire falloff, and Kevin Harvick has some interesting thoughts. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick talked about the tire wear and the quality of the Bristol race.

“The ask from the industry was to find tire falloff,” Kevin Harvick said. “Now, I will tell you, Bristol has been pretty tricky, and if it was at 2:00 in the afternoon on Sunday, we would have had no tire issues because the sun would have been out, and the surface apparently has to be a certain temperature for those tires to last, which is something very new over the last couple of years. I’m not sure what happened, but now Bristol’s surface temperature matters as to whether the tires are going to actually lay rubber down.”

Harvick later said that the tire falloff at Bristol made the race “super intriguing.” He then added, “It looked like a tire management game, which was something that a lot of these guys were used to in their late model experience.”

Christopher Bell reacts to the tire wear at Bristol

For the Bristol race, Goodyear supplied softer, right-side tires. Christopher Bell won the race and shared his thoughts on the tire wear for his No. 20 Toyota Camry.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the twos (tires),” Bell said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad picked the top (lane) didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom.

“All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys (starting ahead of him) on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get by or get underneath them. It wasn’t pretty there at the end, but we got her done.”

Bell secured his spot in the Round of 12 of the Playoffs. The other 11 who made the second round are Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Tyler Reddick.