NASCAR will work alongside Goodyear, which has been taking bigger swings at providing softer tires in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, to dial in tire compounds for the new higher-horsepower levels in 2026.
O’Donnell explained that NASCAR will hold an offseason test at North Wilkesboro Speedway to help drivers, teams, Goodyear, and the sanctioning body wrap their collective heads around how the car performs with additional horsepower.
“And I know fans, you know, ‘Who cares about the money? Just do it,’ but in this case, we want to take a step, we want to marry that up with aero, so we’re going to do a test in the offseason at North Wilkesboro,” O’Donnell said. “I think some of the drivers are happy about that. Just looking at what we can do with the tires now. Goodyear’s stepping up now. Not perfect, right, but, yeah.”
O’Donnell continued, “Put some ideas together, go and try it at North Wilkesboro and see what happens.”
-Photo Credit: Casey Calhoun | Racing America On SI