The St. Patrick’s Day edition of NASCAR’s Food City 500 was one of the most bizarrely entertaining races we’ve ever seen at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Rapidly worn tires turned things into a tire management race that resulted in a NASCAR short track record of 54 lead changes, with five cars finishing on the lead lap, and Denny Hamlin winning.
One massive fan of the race was Dale Earnhardt Jr. The NASCAR analyst, who is reportedly leaving NBC Sports for Amazon and TNT Sports in 2025, praised the race and Goodyear for unintentionally bringing in a tire that wore quickly.
Hell yes. Managing tire wear in a Cup race? Been a long time. Fascinating stuff. Is running low or high better for wear? Better be smart on the short run to make the long run a success.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
Half the field ran out of rubber at the end of the stage!!!
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
Bravo @GoodyearRacing
These drivers have got to be smart with these tires today. We will see who can balance pushing toward the front vs. killing their tires. This is fun to watch.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
I’m all for adding an old challenge back into the drivers hands. It’s been missing for quite some time. https://t.co/0pMC37avDk
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
Bravo @KevinHarvick and @ClintBowyer explaining the tire wear and what drivers are up against. They are on fire in the booth.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
100 to go. Most entertaining short track race we have had with the Next Gen.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
As Harvick was so smart to mention, teams can set the car up to handle these tires a bit better. If Goodyear refused to budge, teams would need to make the necessary changes before they came back. Cambers and certain settings can give more life to the tires.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
I loved everything about that race today. #NASCAR @ItsBristolBaby
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 17, 2024
Goodyear didn’t exactly see it like Earnhardt did. Goodyear’s Greg Stucker met with the media during the race and explained that tire wear was “too drastic” after NASCAR and teams requested more tire wear at Bristol. With resin instead of PJ1 coating the bottom groove in the turns, and rubber not laying down anywhere on the track, Stucker said that Goodyear would need to figure out why that was the case. During the race, NASCAR and Goodyear gave teams an extra set of tires.
Goodyear’s Greg Stucker on the tire issues seen today: pic.twitter.com/CmoEHpXLnl
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 17, 2024
In fairness to Stucker, he’s trying to make sure Goodyear isn’t embarrassed, but many felt the tires made for a great race. That wasn’t Goodyear’s intention to have tires wear that quickly, but that’s what happened. There were a record number of lead changes for a short track race; an amazing result considering the Next Gen car is notoriously horrible on short tracks. The tire showed who could conserve their tires and make them last and who couldn’t; a skill that is learned on local short tracks that isn’t applied very often in today’s NASCAR.
Who knows what Goodyear decides to do for the fall Bristol race or next year’s spring race, but I join Dale Jr. when I say NASCAR could use more of this.
[Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Bob Pockrass]
