“Our weekly science experiment continues.”
That is how Brad Keselowski summed up the new right-side tires brought by Goodyear to Bristol Motor Speedway that were engineered to fall off quicker than its predecessor but actually showed little wear compared to the spring race during Friday practice.
“The tires held up really really well today,” Keselowski said. “I’m surprised by that but we will see tomorrow. Time will tell. It will be a different test as it gets into the night, more cars on the track at one time, our weekly science experiment continues.”
Keselowski articulated it like that because NASCAR and Goodyear have repeatedly been trying to replicate the 2024 spring race that corded tires within 40 laps and got them closer to 200 and then 150 but these do not seem to fade much at all.
This is despite Goodyear bringing three different combinations over four races at Thunder Valley during that time.
Photos from Bristol – Practice
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Bristol – Friday, in photos
Go figure.
“Yeah, I know it’s Friday night qualifying and at the end of the day, that doesn’t pay any points or money, but it’s small victories like this for our race team that’s continually trying to grow,” Allmendinger said. “I’ve been super proud of all the men and women at Kaulig Racing this year. It’s tough in the Cup Series. Sometimes the results don’t show speed that you’re bringing to the racetrack and at a racetrack maybe that we ran 28th at last year, we run 15th this year, things like that.
“So, yeah, days like today are enjoyable and gives me confidence because I feel like I can still do it. And at the end of the day, anybody that knows me knows I’m by far the hardest on myself and I’m always going to be like that. That’s never going to change. So, days like today are important to me, as well, because it proves that I can be here.”
AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Allmendinger also echoed the sentiment that tires were not fading in practice.
“We ran 60 laps today. They weren’t all consecutive. We made a couple of changes to make the car better. That’s what gave me confidence going into qualifying. Our last change, I felt like we had a lot of speed.
“There is a little bit of fall off, but at least my car was good enough, so it never felt like there was a cliff there of the tires all of a sudden going to hit that cliff and basically unravel or start really falling off. Looking at the tires, they had wear on them, but they weren’t extreme.”
It’s like one of those things — in the spring here, we ran 25 laps and it looked like the tires were falling apart. Then we ran 160 on them in the race. So, I’m not sure what to expect. I just think, like anything, if you’ve got a good balance, you can manage the tires.”
But really, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the tires didn’t fade. It’s been warm enough during the day for the track to take rubber and there will be three different races on the track before the Cup race even takes the green flag.
“I’ll race whatever”
The massive tire cording race was a result of temperatures below 60, which seems to be the threshold in which the rubber does not seep into porous surface, and thus Austin Cindric wasn’t surprised.
“Not at all, no,” Cindric said. “The temperature in the track, I think tomorrow night will be interesting if it gets really cold out, but, overall, not really. The pace increases and I’d say that’s probably it from today. I think there might be some fall off towards the end of the stints, but nothing like we had here last spring, I don’t think.”
And really, as far as William Byron is concerned, he is grateful for a race that feels like normal Bristol because a major deviation during the playoffs would be a matter of fairness.
“If everything is normal, it’s fine, no big deal,” Byron said. “If we’re out there shredding and blowing tires, that’s a little unfair don’t you think? We’ve run all season with one thing and then come here and it’s something different …
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll race whatever is under the car but I would just find that kind of unfair I guess.”
His teammate Chase Elliott isn’t putting any emotional energy into it at all.
“I’m not going to stress over it because I have no control over it,” Elliott said. “I have no say so or decision making into the tires and I’m totally okay with that. It’s not up to me to decide and I’m not an expert in manufacturing tires and I’m not going to act like I am.
“Like, I don’t know what the fix is for the car. I have ideas and opinions, things we want to see be better, but if you sit here and act like you have all the answers, 100 percent, you’re either really smart, or I don’t know, but I certainly don’t have all the answers.”
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