Chase Elliott: Tire debate ‘should be the least of our concern’ in NASCAR playoffs

Chase Elliott is not worried about the possibility of different tires being used during the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. While speaking to Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Elliott was asked if having different tire compounds would add credibility to the playoff races or if it’s too much of a gimmick.

“We’re creating this drama with the rounds and so on and so forth. I think the option tires should be the least of our concerns as something that is an issue in that category,” Elliott said on The Teardown. “I do think there are places that it probably would end up being a good thing and could potentially be a decent storyline to follow.

“I thought it went okay at Richmond. I could see both sides of the argument, one side being that you just have a softer tire in general. Does that help the racing? I could see that. I could certainly see that getting Goodyear to buy into having some failures though is going to be a hard thing to sell them on because that’s probably going to happen with it.

Chase Elliott shares more on NASCAR tire debate

“So once that happens once or twice, that’s not going to come back. Is that realistic? But I could also see having something different potentially being an okay thing because the cars are going to keep getting more the same, we are more the same every week. How are you going to be different? How can you spice up a race to have some comers and goers like we used to say throughout a 400 or 500-mile event?”

Elliott’s comments come as a new tire compound from Goodyear for the Watkins Glen race on Sunday is estimated to have up to three seconds of fall-off.

“In our ongoing efforts to introduce more fall-off, we tested at Watkins Glen in June and came out with a new tire that will accomplish that goal,” Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing, said in a statement, per NASCAR.com. “Based on our test and a subsequent WFT (wheelforce test) with the manufacturers, we should see around three seconds of fall-off per lap over a run. That, of course, can mean more passing throughout the race. It’s always tricky on road courses as drivers take advantage of a limited number of ‘passing zones,’ so the increased fall-off should lead to more comers and goers as some drivers manage their tires and gain on the field as the runs go on.”