Goodyear – Syndication Server

Is it time for NASCAR’s option tire experiment to become a short track fixture?

Goodyear has now experimented with a softer tire at three different NASCAR short tracks. The tire, dubbed the ‘option’ to differentiate it from the primary race compound, is softer and, therefore, wears more and quicker, too. But before it does, it …

Goodyear has now experimented with a softer tire at three different NASCAR short tracks.

The tire, dubbed the ‘option’ to differentiate it from the primary race compound, is softer and, therefore, wears more and quicker, too. But before it does, it gives a driver an advantage because it’s faster. Or, as those drivers would say, it makes them feel like Superman driving through the field against those on the primary tire.

Phoenix Raceway was the latest track to play host to the experiment. Cup Series teams had two sets of option tires to mix into their race day strategy alongside six sets of prime tires. It is the second time NASCAR has done so in a points-paying race; the first was at Richmond Raceway last fall. North Wilkesboro Speedway, the site of the All-Star Race, was the debut race for the option tire last year.

The option tire made Sunday’s race at Phoenix bearable. It provided an additional storyline for viewers, created the ability to pass, and put tire management back in the driver’s hands. There has been criticism from drivers and viewers about the difficulty of passing in Cup Series races in recent years. And tire management has become less and less of a variable in the sport over the years.

Given that Phoenix is a track that has lacked good racing by many definitions, Sunday was a success. It was one of the better Phoenix races in recent memory and received a passing grade from the competitors. Goodyear was also pleased with what it saw from its tire.

With all of that said, the experiment needs to end. It’s been three races, and there is no more to learn or that can be seen with the option tire that needs to go into the notebook.

It works. The drivers like it. The racing product on short tracks, a recurring topic of conversation since the Next Gen car was implemented in 2022, is significantly improved when used.

The next step should be for Goodyear and NASCAR to move forward with the option tire as the primary tire at all short tracks. Yes, it would remove the strategy point where teams choose which tire they want to use and when. But, in turn, one would imagine it becomes a tire management race.

Think of the spring 2024 race at Bristol Motor Speedway with slightly less aggressive wear. But putting drivers in the position of having to manage their stints because the tire will not last the entire run, and therefore seeing some fall through the field and others climb the leaderboard, is, dare the word be used, entertaining.

Goodyear and NASCAR are clearly comfortable enough with the option tire to keep using it at different races. It will likely become the primary tire for the championship race at Phoenix in November. So, if it’s good enough to be used, why not go all the way?

Option tires improved the racing in Phoenix. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

There have been drivers who have been ready for it to be a primary tire since last year. That sentiment continued over the weekend by some at Phoenix.

“I’d like to just have one option, preferably the softer option,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said.

“Selfishly, it seemed like my car was a little bit better on the (primary) tires,” Christopher Bell said after winning the race. “My balance was just better compared to the competition. It seemed like the yellow tires were a little bit harder to drive. That allowed my car to excel. The red tire definitely brought the field closer together. I don’t know. I’m not a fan of having two tire compounds in the same race. It worked out (today) where a couple of the best cars ended up racing for the win.

“A matter of luck becomes involved whenever you have a faster car and a slower tire. It worked out (today) for me. I personally don’t like having two tires in the same race or two compounds, I should say, in the same race with there being known yellows. I talked to somebody in here about IndyCar and how they have multiple tire compounds, but they don’t have the stage breaks. It makes it a little bit different.”

The narrative will turn against having two different tire compounds in a race and the ‘gimmick’ word will be used. Bell pointed out one counterargument: it will allow a team and driver who aren’t running up front on merit to take advantage of a different tire strategy.

A softer tire is the way to go, certainly when the car isn’t changing. The tire is the key, and Goodyear has shown it can build a softer one, as nearly every driver has continuously requested over the years.

“I certainly think we’ve got a winner,” Denny Hamlin said on his podcast this week. “We’ve talked about for the last three years, me and Dale Jr. believed for the longest time that Goodyear has the keys to NASCAR Cup Series racing, and I think it’s evident that we were right. Because we’ve got tire falloff.

“We finally got them to put some soft tires on the car and the results of the racing that we’ve seen speaks for itself. It was a 100% success. I can’t think of a short track or a mile or less track that these tires couldn’t go and race at next week.”

Hamlin continued, “We don’t want options. We don’t want multiple compounds. I think you start getting a little bit quirky when that happens. I think you would have fantastic racing no matter what with just the straight … option tire. But I know there are going to be some counters here that, ‘Yeah, there was a lot of passing because some were at a deficit of others.’”

The option tire experiment has been a success. The data gathered shows that. The conclusion should be that if a softer compound is good enough for a championship race as the primary (because NASCAR and Goodyear don’t want multiple compounds in that particular race), then it should be good enough for race weekend as the only tire.

Phoenix went ‘according to plan’ with option tire – Goodyear

Goodyear was pleased with what it saw from the option tire Sunday afternoon as it was used for the first time at Phoenix Raceway. “Everything went according to plan at Phoenix, and the option tire worked very well,” Goodyear NASCAR project manager …

Goodyear was pleased with what it saw from the option tire Sunday afternoon as it was used for the first time at Phoenix Raceway.

“Everything went according to plan at Phoenix, and the option tire worked very well,” Goodyear NASCAR project manager Mark Keto said. “It gave teams a chance to vary their strategies as to when to use them and maximize their effectiveness to gain track position over teams that were out on the prime tires. Teams were also able to manage their options once they got track position and make them live longer into a run. Overall, we were very happy with the balance and strategy of the prime/option tire setup and how it added to the racing all day.”

The tire, which was designated by red sidewall lettering, was a softer compound from the traditional prime tire. It was the same soft compound that Cup Series teams ran at North Wilkesboro in the All-Star Race last season and the second race at Richmond Raceway.

Goodyear brought the option tire to Phoenix to help with the racing product. The goal was a positive showing so that it would become the primary tire for the November championship race. Goodyear will also be holding a three-car tire test on Monday with Austin Dillon (Chevrolet), Josh Berry (Ford), and Tyler Reddick (Toyota) at Phoenix to continue working through different compounds.

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“That red tire was a lot of fun,” fifth-place finisher Chris Buescher said.

Zane Smith, who finished ninth, concurred with his Ford teammate. Plus, “it made it probably the most fun Phoenix race I feel like I have been to.”

Cup Series teams were given one set of option tires for the 45-minute practice session Saturday. There were two sets available for them during the race.

In the first stage, Ryan Preece was the driver to watch as one of the first to take the option tires. Preece pitted and his RFK Racing team put on a set of option tires under a lap 10 caution. He quickly drove through the field (the race restarted on lap 15) and was inside the top 10 on lap 27. He finished the stage third.

Joey Logano used the option tire to regain lost track position from a yellow line violation. Logano’s team used a different pit strategy to put the option tire on during the second stage and drove to the race lead. He ultimately finished the stage in second place.

In the final stage, Austin Cindric, Erik Jones, and Ty Dillon were among those who made significant gains on the option. All three used it to drive inside the top 10.

The race ended with most of the field on their last set of option tires. It seemed to be a key play to save them for as late in the race as possible.

“I wish I would have been on the option tires the whole time and everyone else would have been on the primaries,” Justin Haley said. “They just make you feel like superman. I like the tire. I honestly feel like we should go to it everywhere. They make the cars drive a lot better. I don’t know if that’s what you want, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

NASCAR completes wet weather tire test at Homestead

NASCAR held its first wet weather tire test at an intermediate track on Monday, and the first reports were positive. The test was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway a day after its Round of 8 race. Alex Bowman (Chevrolet), John Hunter Nemechek …

NASCAR held its first wet weather tire test at an intermediate track on Monday, and the first reports were positive.

The test was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway a day after its Round of 8 race. Alex Bowman (Chevrolet), John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota), and Ryan Preece (Ford) were the drivers who participated. There were five sets of tires, with four of them being different wet weather options to work through.

“They wet the track down the night before, so it was damp, and they got it wet prior to the start of the test,” NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “From my reports – and we’ll go through this thoroughly later today in our competition meeting – the tires held up really well. They did a great job.

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“They were running up against the wall and kind of all over the racetrack in the wet. There was some spray, which we anticipated. The speeds are obviously much higher when we go to mile-and-a-halfs, so we’ve probably got a little work to do there. But overall, it was a really good test. All three drivers agreed on the tire they all liked; they were all in agreement that it was the best tire. We gained a lot.”

Moran anticipates seeing more wet weather tires being used next season. NASCAR used wet weather tires on an oval for the first time at North Wilkesboro last season in the non-points event All-Star Race.

The first time they were used on an oval in a points-paying event was at Richmond Raceway in April. The series then had the chance to use them to finish the June event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR does not use its tires when in a hard rain. However, a light rain or a track that does not need to be completely dried allows NASCAR to restart an event sooner.

“This is a directive from Jim France a couple of years back; we’ve been working hard at it,” Moran said. “We started doing some testing a few years ago. Obviously, we got to see more of it this year, and it worked out very well in New Hampshire as well as North Wilkesboro. It certainly helped us get back to racing and helped the fans have the opportunity to enjoy the race when they come.

“So, again, we have not been running in downpours, but we certainly have run on wet tracks. Goodyear has done a fabulous job with the tires.”

NASCAR podcast: Goodyear tire talk

As conversations at Richmond Raceway often involve tires, particularly the option tires, it’s a good time to chat with Goodyear about being the tire supplier for NASCAR. Mark Keto, who is the NASCAR project manager for the company, brings us inside the process of building a compound, collaboration with teams and NASCAR, what people don’t see happening at the racetrack during race weekend and much more:

Cup Series teams to have option tire at Richmond

NASCAR Cup Series teams will have the option tire to use during next month’s race at Richmond Raceway, the series announced Tuesday. It will be the same premise as the NASCAR All-Star Race from North Wilkesboro Speedway, where teams will have both …

NASCAR Cup Series teams will have the option tire to use during next month’s race at Richmond Raceway, the series announced Tuesday.

It will be the same premise as the NASCAR All-Star Race from North Wilkesboro Speedway, where teams will have both the Goodyear primary and option tires. The option tire is made from the same compound as the wet weather tires.

Richmond (Aug. 11) will be the first time teams have had an option on tires during a points-paying race, and NASCAR will not mandate when teams have to use the tires. But all four tires must match when on the race car.

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“As we continue the cooperative effort of the industry on short track package adjustments, we felt like Richmond was an excellent opportunity to build upon the results of the option tire used at the All-Star Race,” said Goodyear director of racing Greg Stucker. “The option tire uses our wet weather tread compound, and we saw how that compound performed in the drying conditions of the opening laps at Richmond in the spring.

“We expect the option tire to provide a significant lap time gain over the Prime, but fall-off will be greater, and tire management will be important in taking advantage of it at the right time.”

There will be three sets of option tires available at Richmond. However, teams must use one set during practice that can carry over into the race. Teams will be allotted six sets of primary tires for the race.

NASCAR will expand its practice at Richmond because of the tire changes. Cup teams will have a single 45-minute session before qualifying.

As it was at North Wilkesboro, the primary tire will feature yellow Goodyear lettering. The option tire will have the red Goodyear lettering.

NASCAR pleased with wet weather tires at Richmond

The first 30 laps of Sunday night’s Cup series race at Richmond Raceway went as planned for NASCAR by running on wet weather tires. “A credit to Jim France, this was his vision a couple of years ago,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of …

The first 30 laps of Sunday night’s Cup series race at Richmond Raceway went as planned for NASCAR by running on wet weather tires.

“A credit to Jim France, this was his vision a couple of years ago,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said. “He tasked the R&D Center and Goodyear to come up with a tire that we could run in the damp and tonight a success. We were able to get the race started pretty much on time. The guys did a great job with the tire. Goodyear did a phenomenal job.

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“We called the competition caution at Lap 30; that was about where we needed to be. It looked like we might have been able to go another five or so laps, but the main thing is we were able to get the race started, our fans at home got to view the race, as well as the fans here at the track. So, goal accomplished.”

The Toyota Owners 400 was scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. ET start but didn’t take the green flag until about 7:30 p.m. ET. NASCAR declared it a damp start, telling teams to put on the wet weather tires for the first time in Cup Series history in a points-paying race.

NASCAR can use wet weather tires on short ovals to start the race sooner than completely drying the racetrack. There were no windshield wipers, rear mud flaps, or rear lights on the cars, and NASCAR has no intentions of racing when it is still raining.

There were no issues for drivers on the wet weather tires. As the track started to dry, NASCAR informed teams that the competition caution would be at Lap 30 so they could change onto slick tires. The pit stops were noncompetitive, meaning the field was frozen, and no positions were lost or gained on pit road.

“Unlike road courses where pit road is wet, and we’d allow the teams to make the decisions whether to put dries or wets on (the car), on the short ovals, we’re still not to a place where we feel comfortable doing that,” Sawyer said. “We’re looking out for the safety. This is only our third event that we’ve actually run wet weather tires; we ran the trucks at Martinsville (Speedway) last year, (and) obviously (North) Wilkesboro. So, we have another data point.

“That’s one thing we want to work hard on, we want to be able to start the race, put all the competition in the team’s hands, the strategy when to put tires on, when to take them off and the sanctioning body not be in the middle of that decision making. I think we’ll get there sooner than later, but all in all, just a huge success and credit to Goodyear and all of our folks at the R&D Center, and obviously Mr. France’s vision to get us here.”

Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag a few minutes before 11 p.m. ET. It would have been even later had NASCAR not started the night on wet weather tires.

“We could have been sitting there another hour getting everything dry like we have in the past,” Sawyer said. “So, again, huge credit to everyone for putting the effort in to get us to this point with the tires … we’ll learn from this and be able to make better decisions going forward.”

Bristol was wild, but we don’t need to overreact

It’s been over nine years since Aaron Rodgers told Green Bay Packers fans to R-E-L-A-X over the team’s slow start to the 2014 season. On Sunday night, after winning the tire war at Bristol Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart …

“Don’t overreact,” Hamlin said.

Unfortunately as it pertains to the amusement factor as it surely would have gone viral, Hamlin did not spell out his statement as Rodgers did. But the message was still loud and clear. The same for Gabehart’s follow up to Hamlin.

“It’s not bad. It’s OK,” Gabehart said. “Quit beating Goodyear up over things like that. They’re supposed to be part of the sport and make it hard on us. I think that’s the narrative we’ve got to start talking about.”

The Food City 500 was unexpectedly entertaining. Although there were questions about what happened to the racetrack at the end of practice and into qualifying Saturday, it’s unlikely anyone could have foreseen how the race would unfold.

Tire wear, resin and marbles, oh my. It was not a Cup Series race fans, drivers, engineers, or crew chiefs are used to seeing. Cup series races are, shall we say, a bit predictable, with hard tires and teams playing out each fuel run.

But there was no chance of that at Bristol. With such high tire wear, it was 40 to 50 laps before drivers were hanging on or in trouble. A fuel run is 190 laps at Bristol, so tires probably shouldn’t have started to give up until 80 to 100 laps into a run.

The theme of the race was about tire management. Some drivers did it better than others. And that’s where the entertainment came in, because it’s not something drivers are used to doing or people get to see them figure out. NASCAR racing has been more about on-throttle time and laying down qualifying laps while aggressively attacking a corner, so it was new to see drivers having to balance how hard to push and slow the pace of the race down.

“This is the first time the driver played a huge role in a long, long time,” Hamlin said. “Long time. It’s a different philosophy from what we’re used to, which is everyone is just kind of on the gas all the time running the bottom, the shortest way around. Technique was a huge deal today.”

Sunday’s tire dramas weren’t down to failures, unlike the infamous race at Indianapolis in 2008 (pictured). Motorsport Images

Don’t fall for the easy and often-used criticism that the tires failed. The tires certainly didn’t fail. There is a difference between tire failures, which blow out repeatedly during a race and tire wear. Indianapolis in 2008, which so many were quick to reference, was a race of tire failures. On that day, the longest run of the race was about 12 laps before the tires started blowing.

Sunday at Bristol was a race of tire wear, albeit drastic wear. The tires lasted, just not as long as expected or teams would hope. However, there is nothing wrong with tire wear and tire management races; the sport needs more. Afterwards, it seemed nearly everyone could agree that having tire fall off is what racing needs, but for some unexplainable reason, there was a lot at Bristol.

And that’s where the overreaction messages come in. Yes, it was different and unique and unexpected. It was fun, though. It made for a race where no one was yelling about dirty air and being unable to pass.

No, this was a driver’s race.

“I would rather be disciplined as a driver than deal with aero tight,” Ryan Preece posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Hell yeah. More of that. Bristol might not have been something that everyone is used to seeing or understanding, but nothing was wrong with what happened. The short tracks could use more of the show Sunday had.

Who knows? Maybe one day the NASCAR industry will look back and say what happened at Bristol wasn’t planned, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. One of the most entertaining short track races in recent memory wasn’t the result of the horsepower debate or a rules package, but tire wear.

“It was fantastic,” Gabehart said. “The whole weekend was nothing that any of us expected, the driver, the crew chiefs, the engineers, the pit crew, the team, the spotter. From the minute practice was over, we suspected something was going to be different. I think a lot of us thought maybe 80, 100 (laps) in, this place would rubber in and get a little more familiar. But it did not.

“It was a blast. I’m not just saying that because we won. I’m saying that because it was fun to have to do something so unrefined. Everything about our business gets to be 16th of a round and 10th of an air pressure. If you just maneuver this 3 inches, you’ll be perfect. It was not going to be perfect this weekend ever. I think that made for a fantastic show.”

So, just relax, as Rodgers would say. Or don’t overreact, as Hamlin advised. It was wild, but everyone came out the other side knowing something good happened even if no yet knows how.

Bristol tire management leaves drivers bemused but happy

NASCAR Cup Series drivers were tasked with an unexpected challenge at Bristol Motor Speedway, and most came away with positive reactions. Sunday’s Food City 500 was a tire management race. A quick pace around the half-mile concrete oval produced …

NASCAR Cup Series drivers were tasked with an unexpected challenge at Bristol Motor Speedway, and most came away with positive reactions.

Sunday’s Food City 500 was a tire management race. A quick pace around the half-mile concrete oval produced high tire wear, with some teams experiencing blown tires or cording.

“I have never seen anything like that,” Josh Berry said. “I guess we got our wish with the tires falling off, but I don’t know. They fell off but it’s like they fell off a little bit and then all at once when they went to cords. I don’t know what the change is that you need there. Obviously, they need more rubber on them because we were running on fabric at the end.

“I think I finished with like three flat tires, and the car was on fire in 11th. I kind of had fun, though. I’m not going to lie. That might be the biggest (expletive) show I’ve ever been a part of, but it was kind of fun.”

There was a track record of 54 lead changes. At times, the field was packed together and running side-by-side for multiple laps as if at a superspeedway race.

“It was an interesting day,” Brad Keselowski said. “There was a lot of discipline required, and it was a fun race, to be honest, because you just had to be so smart behind the wheel. It would bite you in a heartbeat, and you had to have a good setup. I think we had a good setup and tried to run the smartest race I could.”

During longer green flag runs, when tire conservation came into play, drivers slowed the pace of the race down to over an 18-second lap time. But Keselowski noted that looks can be deceiving.

“It ain’t no parade lap,” he said. “You’re still hauling the mail. It’s different, but you’re just managing.”

Goodyear felt the tire wear was too drastic and will be digging into the data. NASCAR’s John Probst, however, thought it was one of the best short-track races he’d ever seen, and his initial reaction was not to make changes for the fall race aside from giving teams more tires.

“That was definitely the craziest race I feel like I’ve ever been a part of in the Cup series,” Chase Briscoe said. “We normally just run every lap as a qualifying lap and you might save a little bit, but you’re never going that slow to save tires. It was definitely bizarre how it all played out, and green flag pit stops, and it was like you had 1000 more horsepower than the field when you were on new tires.

“It was nuts. It was unfortunate circumstances from a racing standpoint, but for us to end up 13th for as crazy of a race as it was, we were definitely way better than 13th.”

Justin Haley said he loved Sunday’s race.

“I don’t know what social media says, but as a driver, I thought it was fun because you had to manage it,” Haley said. “You weren’t all-out the whole time, so it was fun to have a major part in how the car ran.”

A few drivers equated Sunday to grassroots short-track racing. It’s not uncommon to be limited on tires or have to manage tires at a local short track on a Saturday night.

“I was joking with the guys that it’s just an oversized Pensacola with tire wear,” John Hunter Nemechek said. “I grew up short track late model racing – places that you had to manage tire wear till the end of the run. We were able to do so.”

Said Keselowski said, “The drivers have been asking for the tires to wear out more and we got it. If we were like a two on a 10 scale, this was a nine or a 10. Maybe there’s a middle ground somewhere. It was definitely a different race.

“I had a lot of fun. I felt like you had to be really smart. It’s good to have something different every once in a while.”

Todd Gilliland said, “For the middle part of the race, it gave me really big flashbacks of a Myrtle Beach race back in the day (where) you see guys go three-wide and there’s just going up (the track), and then you kind of get stuck and there’s nowhere to go. But a place like that it’s different because you kind of wear out and just slowly lose spots. But this, you would really fall off a cliff. It was tough.”

Kyle Larson, however, was the outlier in his opinion of the experience.

“If I knew I was only doing this one time, I would say that was kind of fun,” Larson said. “It was weird to have to manage, guess on how hard to run, guess how each run was going to play out. You were kind of constantly in traffic and managing distance to people in front and behind. So, the strategy side of that in the driver’s seat was kind of fun, but I would never want to do that again.

“To have to run a race like that every week would be not good, and it’s honestly probably a black eye to Goodyear just with all the rubber that couldn’t get laid down and just wearing through tires and all that. It was different and we somehow made the most of it and somehow got to fifth.”

A few other notes from Sunday’s race:

It did not feature the new short-track package teams ran at Phoenix Raceway last weekend. It was the same package run at Bristol last year, the race package NASCAR uses at every track (except where the short-track/road course rules package is run).

The left-side tire was the same one that’s been run at Bristol since the fall of 2022 and the right-side tire ran at Bristol in the fall of 2023.

Resin was sprayed at Bristol in the lower lane of each corner.

The high temperature on Sunday in Bristol was 62 degrees.

Goodyear befuddled by ‘drastic’ change in Bristol tire life

Greg Stucker acknowledged that tire wear is a good thing in a NASCAR race, but the amount seen Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway was unexpected and too much. “I would agree [that] tire wear is always the goal,” Stucker, Goodyear director of racing, …

Greg Stucker acknowledged that tire wear is a good thing in a NASCAR race, but the amount seen Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway was unexpected and too much.

“I would agree [that] tire wear is always the goal,” Stucker, Goodyear director of racing, said during a visit to the media center during the final stage of the Food City 500. “That’s what people wanted to see. It creates comers and goers and who manages tires the best. But we thought we were in a really good spot last year with the tire as we raced it in the fall and something is different now. So this is too drastic.”

Cup Series teams experienced high tire wear and cording right from the green flag Sunday. It left drivers slowing down the pace of the race to conserve rubber, trying to make it an entire run on fuel without issue. However, a rash of incidents and cautions resulted in NASCAR allowing Goodyear to release an extra set of tires to the teams early in the second stage.

There were 10 sets of tires available to the teams entering Sunday’s race. In addition to having nine sets for the race, teams could carry over one set from qualifying.

“We tested here last year with the intent to come up with a tire package that generated more tire wear — that was the request from NASCAR and the teams,” Stucker said. “We feel like we had a very successful test. We feel like we had a very successful race in the fall of last year because we did exactly that. We ran a full fuel stop [and] definitely saw wear, but we thought it was spot on. So now we’re trying to understand what’s different — why is the racetrack behaving differently this weekend than what it did a year ago?”

The extreme cording was a result of the track not taking rubber.

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“If you look up in the corners, the tire rubber is being worn off and it’s just not adhering to the racetrack,” Stucker said. “That’s why you see all the marbles up in the corners. And again, last August, it took rubber immediately. As is typical with concrete, you run around under caution it’ll pick it back up. We see that at Martinsville, we see that at Dover, we see that here. But immediately when we go back green, it lays back down and that’s just not happening.”

Goodyear brought the same left-side tire code that has run at Bristol since the fall of 2022. The right side debuted at Bristol in the fall (after the test Stucker mentioned).

“It’s the same [race] package. It’s the same tire combination,” Stucker said. “Obviously, the difference is resin was placed on the lower groove instead of the PJ1. Yet I still think the racetrack should be taking rubber as it did last year. It took rubber immediately during that race.

“It’s still a bit of an unknown as far as why it’s not behaving the same — that being the racetrack. But that’s kind of what we know now. Obviously, everybody is kind of in the same boat but some guys are able to manage through it a little bit better than others. It’s still a tough situation, and we’re going to have to try and understand exactly what’s happening, what’s different, and adjust from there.”

NASCAR had the resin sprayed through the lower groove at Bristol since the track had become top-lane-dominant in years past. It was applied to the track at the start of the weekend and reapplied Sunday morning following the Saturday night Craftsman Truck Series race.

“Everybody got together and expressed concern [about tires], but we decided to wait and see what happened with the truck race,” Stucker said. “The truck race went exactly like we expected it to – it put rubber down immediately, tire wear was in line with what we have historically seen, so it’s a little bit unclear as to why we’re not seeing that same thing today.”

Tryouts of new tires and talents at Goodyear’s Portimao WEC GT test

With the specifications of the first of Goodyear’s two 2024 dry-spec tires now frozen and ready for next season, this week’s two-day tire test in Portimao provided an ideal opportunity for eight manufacturers and teams planning to field cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s new GT division to get a feel for the new LMGT3 rubber and assess new drivers.

It was a busy two days, with teams getting plenty of mileage during the 12 hours of track time, with only a small handful of stoppages.

Of the manufacturers present, Aston Martin with its new-for-2024 Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, Audi, BMW and Lexus with its RC F GT3, were all sampling the LMGT3 Eagle F1 Supersports for the first time.

Aston Martin’s test and development 2024-spec Vantage Evo chassis, which was first spied earlier this month running at Silverstone, was being driven for the most part by Heart of Racing’s current FIA WEC GTE Am drivers. Ian James, Roman de Angelis and Alex Riberas all turned laps, in addition to 2023 TF Sport driver Ben Tuck.

Heart of Racing — Aston Martin’s current IMSA GTD Pro team and future Valkyrie Hypercar entrant — is expected to run one of two Vantages in the WEC next year, should AMR receive its pair of entries. The car has been extremely well received by the drivers that have sampled it to this point. One experienced GT driver told RACER that it was “the easiest GT car” they’d ever driven.

Audi, meanwhile, remains an outside possibility for the FIA WEC, if the full-season entry is capped at 36 cars with 18 cars in each of the two classes (Hypercar and LMGT3) as expected. Nevertheless, a full Audi Sport Customer Racing truck rolled into the paddock and supported French Audi Sport customer Team Sainteloc with senior technical staff and works driver Christopher Haase.

Haase was the only designated driver for the R8 that turned laps in Portimao, with its newly developed and installed closed-loop torque sensors. His feedback on both Goodyear’s tires and level of service was overwhelmingly positive.

“It’s my first time with the Goodyear tires and in this environment,” Haase said. “I have been really surprised — the car worked straight away out of the box. I was so happy with the level of grip and feedback. It was joyous.

“We have put mileage on tires for long runs, and on our first long run it was so promising.”

Team director Frederic Thalamy echoed Haase’s thoughts and described Goodyear’s support as “very impressive.”

The BMWs on site were being run by Belgian outfit Team WRT, which will run both the Hypercar and LMGT3 effort in the WEC for the Bavarian brand next year.

The two M4 GT3s were current-spec cars, not the EVO package that has been out testing recently and will debut in 2025. One car was in its full Valentino Rossi GT World Challenge Europe livery and driven by factory ace Augusto Farfus; the other was a bare carbon chassis that was being shared by Bronze-rated drivers Giorgio Roda, Arnold Robin and Tim Whale.

Tuesday’s running included one near-double stint for one of the M4s, with tire wear and life report to be significantly better than the team had expected.

“The Goodyears are very good –we have been pleasantly surprised, though there is some work to do to get to the point where double stinting is possible,” Kurt Mollekens, WRT’s GT3 program manager told RACER. “It’s been a very constructive couple of days. We will be testing again at Paul Ricard, where we will have a number of other Bronze-rated drivers with us.”

The presence of Lexus was a surprise to some. However, in the background, longstanding Mercedes-AMG GT3 team AKKODIS ASP has been plotting a switch of brands to ensure it can fulfill owner Jerome Policand’s WEC ambitions. With Mercedes believed to be on the outside looking in for next season in terms of entry prospects, a move to Lexus to take up the grid slots that will be handed on behalf of Toyota in LMGT3, is an entirely sensible move.

IMSA champion Jack Hawksworth and WEC champ Jose Maria Lopez shared the car this week. The chassis used is from 2016 and has been campaigned in Japan, the U.S. and Europe ahead of being handed to ASP. It is now the dedicated test car.

ASP received technical support from both Toyota Gazoo Racing and TRD for this rollout. Present in the garage was ex-ORECA technical director Davide Floury, who now forms part of the Japanese brand’s senior technical staff.

The team used the test this week to assess minor aero changes ahead of wind tunnel certification of an evo-version of the car for next season. This is interesting because Toyota/Lexus’ new GT3 challenger is deep in development and already out testing. The plan currently is understood to be for a 2026 debut, though there appears to be pressure from within the project to bring this forward if at all possible.

That leaves Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini and McLaren, who already had extensive mileage on Goodyear’s new tires ahead of the test. Primarily, this week’s to-do list was centred around each team and OEM’s driver selection process, though in the case of McLaren, it was also United Autosports’ first opportunity to run a 720S GT3 EVO on track.

The two Ferraris 296 GT3s tested were run by AF Corse, with Bronze-rated drivers Francois Heriau and Mike Wainwright at the center of attention. Heriau is understood to be seeking a slot in the WEC with the team. Current GTE Am driver Simon Mann also turned laps in the car and the most likely scenario appears to be that the pair will be joined by a factory driver next season.

On the other hand, Wainwright, owner/driver at Porsche GTE team GR Racing, will race with Ferrari going forward. He used the time to get up to speed with the 296 ahead of GR’s Asian Le Mans Series debut and therefore opted to run with Michelin tires, which the Asian Le Mans GT category utilizes.

Proton Competition, joined by members of staff from Multimatic, Ford Performance and M Sport, ran a single Mustang GT3 (pictured, top). It was the #001 test chassis which began life as a mule in the USA.

Dirk Mueller was the headline runner from Multimatic and was joined by a group of other Silver and Bronze-rated drivers with lofty ambitions. This included Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Adam Smalley, Ryan Hardwick, Mikel Miller, Martin Rump, Leon Köhler, Gianmarco Leverato and ex-DTM racer Esteban Muth. Stock car racing veteran Boris Said was present too in full Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series gear, as a potential Bronze for the WEC effort.

Asked if he anticipated being part of Proton’s WEC program, the 61-year-old told RACER: “I could say that would be the most surprising call of all, but Jim Farley (Ford’s CEO) asking me along to this test has already won that prize!”

Iron Lynx’s garage was also filled with drivers on hand to take turns in a pair of Huracan GT3 Evos. Matteo Cressoni, Franck Perera, and Claudio Schiavoni were among the drivers who were suited and booted and drove one car. The lineup for the other included Margot Lafitte, the daughter of ex-F1 star Jacques. She was testing on Tuesday to become a potential Bronze-ranked addition to the Iron Dames roster.

However, Sarah Bovy, the current Iron Dames WEC Bronze, now appears likely to return. She was initially regraded as a Silver driver for 2024 by the FIA, but has since won her appeal and will stay a Bronze for next year. Bovy drove at the test with current teammates Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey.

Finally, United Autosports, McLaren’s WEC nominee for ’24, took delivery of its first McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in the Portimao paddock on Sunday. The team prepped and ran it for two days, all while tending to its multi-car European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup effort across the Grand Finale race event of the season and subsequent Rookie Test. The fact that everything went to plan for Richard Dean’s team, which won both ELMS races overall, was a remarkable achievement.

Tom Gamble was on hand to run the car on behalf of the factory and to support Silver-ranked Garnet Patterson and Bronze driver Yasser Shahin, who sampled the car across both days.

Goodyear’s staff supported all eight manufacturers on hand, plus the ELMS LMP2 teams that opted to stay on after the Rookie Test.

With the GT3 tires now in full production and on sale to customers, it will continue to provide technical assistance to any teams wishing to sample the new LMGT3 Eagle F1 Supersports over the winter in private settings.

When will the second dry spec be available? Goodyear told RACER that the target is mid-season in ’24. The tire is being developed for use at the more aggressive tracks on the calendar. The plan is for Goodyear to dictate which of the two specs will be used for each event ahead of time, rather than handing that decision to the teams.

Design of its wet weather LMGT3 tire is also being worked on. The 2024 Goodyear LMGT3 wets, according to endurance program manager Mike McGregor, will be an evolution of the current GTE rain tire, and benefit from lessons learned by the team that looks after its Nurburgring GT3 program.

The winter test schedule for Goodyear is expected to be extremely intense, with runs planned for COTA, Qatar, Bahrain, Barcelona, Paul Ricard, Valencia, Portimao and Monteblanco. The Monteblanco test is particularly notable, as it will be open to everyone and will feature 24 hours of continuous running.