The playoff elimination race at Bristol has been all about tire management, just as Goodyear promised it would be. While teams didn’t see much falloff in practice, the cooler temperatures at night have created a chaotic race as tires are cording within 50 laps.
But this is exactly what Goodyear intended, as they have finally succeeded in recreating the extreme tire wear that made the 2024 spring Bristol race so popular.
But as a result of the tire wear, Goodyear employees went to work mounting new tires as they prepared to set an extra set to the teams mid-race.
Goodyear tires
Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“The team is working really hard to get this extra set mounted and balanced and ready,” Justin Fantozzi, operations manager, global race tires at Goodyear told USA Network. “We’re going to go back to the same amount of sets we had in the spring race when we saw this same sort of conditions. We’re ready to go.
“The industry has asked for this. We got the best drivers, the best crew chiefs. We’re gonna ask them to manage it, and we’re delivering on exactly what we were asked to do.”
He touched on the temperature difference as the key element in what we’re seeing on Saturday night, as tires cord and balls of rubber fill the outermost groove on the track.
“Temperatures have gotten really cool right now,” said Fantozzi. “I mean, I’m in a sweater, and as the temperatures drop, it’s returning back to what we saw in the spring, 18 months ago.
“So, the tire is behaving exactly like it should.”
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