By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
Goodyear Racing’s softer tires turned Bristol Motor Speedway into a powder keg, and even race winner Christopher Bell wasn’t immune. In the closing four laps, Bell held off Brad Keselowski by 0.343 seconds, but the softer compound brought tire wear front and center, just as it did in the March 2024 Bristol race that first highlighted the issue.
The challenge nearly caught Bell out, but he had realized early that “It was going to be a race between who had fresh tires and who could get to the lead first.”
Bell admitted he read the situation long before the finish. In his post-race remarks, he said, “I keyed up on the radio, I think it was probably lap 20, 25 (that he knew about the tire wear situation) … I had a really big slip Lap 1 or 2, and then a couple laps – Lap 20, 30 into the run, I’m like, ‘Man! I’m losing grip in a hurry here,’ and I keyed up and I said, ‘I think we might have tire issues,’ and then I just saw the land mine of marbles up the racetrack.”
Going into the event, Goodyear Racing officials alerted drivers that the tires chosen for the race would be softer than previously for the right side of the car, which sees intense load-bearing at tracks like Bristol Motor Speedway.
“As has been the trend at short tracks this year for the Cup Series, the right side Goodyear Racing Eagle tire will be slightly softer tread rubber than what was raced in April,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear operations manager for global race tires. “The high-banked concrete surface is demanding and continually evolves over 500 laps as rubber is laid down. This tire setup is designed to withstand the heavy loads while still optimizing handling for the drivers.”
Even with the warning from Goodyear, tire wear was a major issue and Bell wasn’t the only one to weigh in.
Other drivers on Tire Wear at Bristol
Ryan Blaney noted that the tire degradation created uncertainty but also spiced up the action.
Blaney explained, “The tires were interesting. No one expected that. I guess that’s what they want. It practices one way and then it races a completely different way, so we just tried to manage tires and ran a bunch of laps under caution and I thought we were pretty good all night and glad to get a good finish.”
Josh Berry, knocked out of the Round of 16 after Bristol, saw his night go up in smoke when rotor trouble likely sparked a fire. He steered the No. 21 Ford to pit road with smoke billowing from the right-front wheel well and later pointed to the tires as the culprit.
Berry’s crew chief, Miles Stanley, was livid with NASCAR over the radio as his driver’s car sat on pit road with flames coming from the front. He pleaded with NASCAR for a caution.
“Put the fire out! Can we get a caution? There’s a fu—ng fire on pit road,” he shouted. “No caution? We’ve got a driver on fire!”
“I’m sure it’s tire rubber or cords or something that got wrapped around the rotor or brakes,” Berry said. “Something caught on fire … It (tire wear) definitely caught me off guard. I was fully convinced it was gonna be hammer down … You could see the marbles start developing and, man, it’s crazy. It just has to do with the weather, I guess. It’s excessive, but I think it’s gonna be a hell of a race to watch, for sure.”
William Byron echoed the unpredictability. He said the tires felt normal at first but admitted the race turned chaotic. He explained that from around 10th place back, there were people running into each other, noting how tire differences only added fuel to the fire.
Shane van Gisbergen, who might have been a dark horse for the Round of 12 had he advanced through the Round of 16 thanks to a road course in the next stage, was among the four drivers eliminated. Bristol gave him no lifeline in points and he admitted the tire battle left him behind the eight ball.
“I just didn’t understand how to manage the tire wear early enough,” van Gisbergen said. “Our No. 88 Wendy’s Breakfast Baconator Chevrolet was decent at the end. We got the car handling better for what I needed. I was just too hard on the tires with the way I was driving the car.”
Christopher Bell’s take on NASCAR’s officiating
Despite the chaos that made the race both unpredictable and compelling, Bell tipped his cap to NASCAR for handling officiating far better than in previous instances. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt the calls were fair and praised officials for letting the field run through green-flag cycles. In his eyes, that decision is what turns such circumstances into a show worth watching.
“I thought NASCAR did a phenomenal job of officiating the race this week compared to the last time or the first time that this happened and the last time it happened,” Bell said. I thought it was really fair and, yeah, I applaud them for letting run through the green flag cycles …”