Photo Credit: Craig White | TobyChristie.com
On Tuesday morning, NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive that NASCAR will be speaking to Trackhouse Racing this week about the team having its drivers run through the grass on their path back to pit road at the conclusion of last Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
“We’ll be having some discussions with Trackhouse in management as well as their crew chiefs, and we’ll be giving all the teams some information regarding that this week,” Moran said.
Moran continued, “We have rules that could put the teams in a real bad spot when we see that. So, we’ll make it pretty clear to them, moving forward, starting at Bristol, what that means.”
Many, including Corey LaJoie, have speculated Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen, who finished 24th and 25th, respectively, skirted off the track in an effort to pick up additional weight in the form of grass, dirt, rocks, etc., to give them an additional buffer across the scales in post-race inspection.
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The Final Lap Podcast: Dirty Air is a Problem; Can it be Solved by Tire Wear?
Photo Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images
It’s no secret that the best race in recent Bristol Motor Speedway history was the ultra-high tire wear race in the Spring of 2024. Since that race, NASCAR and Goodyear have tried to bring a similar, perhaps less extreme version of that to the 0.533-mile short track, but have failed to do so over the last two races at the track.
However, Denny Hamlin explained on Actions Detrimental that there are serious rumors swirling through the garage that tire wear could come into play this weekend at Bristol, as Goodyear is bringing a new right side tire, which is designed not to last.
“They have this machine, apparently, that is like sandpaper. So, they slide this tire — anyway, there’s a tire that goes on this sand belt machine and checks the wear, how is this tire going to wear under certain loads? And apparently, they put on the Bristol right side tire, and it shredded into the machine immediately,” Hamlin said. “Like, it was so aggressive that it destroyed the machine. Like it just unraveled and got caught in the machine.”
Hamlin cautions that the tire machine tested a fresh tire off the production line, which had yet to cure like the ones that will be used this weekend. So, he believes the tire wear may not be as bad as some think it will be.
But selfishly, Hamlin hopes tire wear is intense.
“But either way, I’m all for team chaos this week. I hope we can’t run 50 laps. I just hope they have enough tires is going to be my thing,” Hamlin said.