Tire fall-off was bonkers at Bristol, and it created a NASCAR race to remember

To quote Kyle Busch after his memorable 2018 Chicagoland win: “If you don’t like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.”

That’s what should be said and felt after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The story of the day was tire wear, and although it was extreme, it made for one of the most entertaining races the Cup Series has ever had.

Earlier in the week, a lot of industry chatter was about horsepower. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson were vocal, saying adding horses to the engines wouldn’t require additional money. NASCAR, however, said adjusting components to allow for greater air intake to the motors and different amounts of exhaust wouldn’t be free of cost.

By Sunday evening, the argument about horsepower became moot because tire fall-off proved to be all that was needed for an entertaining stock car event.

This was not a typical modern NASCAR race. It wasn’t the typical modern race of any auto racing. Technology has become so advanced in motorsport that drivers in most professional leagues can push their equipment to the limit just about 100 percent of the time and not have to put thought into saving their cars to make them last to the finish.

“We just had to go roll around half-speed and try to make it last,” Alex Bowman said. “It kind of reminded me of Greenville Pickens (Speedway), short-track racing in the (ARCA) East Series, or something like that. Just had to be really, really patient.”

When Hamlin discussed his desires for more horsepower at Phoenix last weekend, he reasoned that more of it would cause drivers to use less throttle in the corners, which would, in theory, create more passing opportunities. Since drivers couldn’t run pedal to the metal at the Tennessee half-mile on Sunday, eventual race winner Hamlin essentially got his wish (there were a record 54 lead changes — it had been held at 40 since 1991 at Bristol), but in an unexpected way.

“It was an interesting day. 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,” Brad Keselowski said. “It’s hard. I just wish the whole race had been like the end, where we just ran, and we didn’t throw yellows because we were in a really good spot for that, but, either way, we had a good car.”

It was the type of race that Kevin Harvick alluded to in the NASCAR on Fox broadcast booth: a southeastern short-track race where tire wear is the norm, and the drivers and teams must manage it as best they can.

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

Not all the drivers liked it. Ryan Blaney called it a “shit show.” Kyle Larson said the tire failures felt like a “crisis.” Goodyear did concede that the cording that occurred about 40 laps into a run wasn’t great, but to have tire conservation matter so much has not been seen in NASCAR in decades. And frankly, it was refreshing.

So, why did this happen? What was different about the NASCAR Cup race on St. Patrick’s Day 2024 vs. the Fall 2023 Cup race? Because the tires themselves weren’t different.

NASCAR applied resin to the bottom lane of the racing surface in the corners. It is different from the PJ1 traction compound NASCAR has used the last several years, and for whatever reason, it didn’t allow the tires to wear out gradually, and rubber never got laid into the concrete surface. Tires began cording, and chunks of rubber collected in the top lane of the turns.

Some might say it was a reminder of the dreadful 2008 Brickyard 400. But it wasn’t as severe since NASCAR wasn’t waving yellow flags for a competition caution every 10 or so laps. Tires weren’t exploding on Sunday as they did in that disastrous event 16 years ago. And for what it’s worth, Bristol is a fifth of the size of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Even when a driver had a tire failure, it was a much shorter journey back to the pits than it would be from anywhere but Turn 4 at IMS.

“I loved everything about that race today,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted on X (formerly Twitter). Throughout the race, he tweeted observations and compared it to the NASCAR of yesteryear, when his father raced and when tire wear was actually noticeable.

“Most entertaining short track race we have had with the Next Gen,” he said.

NASCAR Chief Racing Development Officer John Probst said: “All in all, it was probably one of the best short track races I have ever seen.”

But why did NASCAR elect to use resin on the track instead of the PJ1?

Probst said that PJ1 mixed with water made for an oily mixture, and cars wouldn’t be able to have traction on it. If it rained, that’d have been an issue. However, the resin didn’t produce the same effect when it was tested with water, and NASCAR decided it would be best to use that so cars wouldn’t potentially slip and slide on the track.

Atlanta last month was great. The race was action-packed, and the photo finish was one for the ages. However, for NASCAR to have an event like Sunday’s where the tires became unpredictably worn after minutes of use is not something Goodyear and NASCAR are likely going to have again for a long time.

If the tires didn’t cord as rapidly as they did, and if drivers could go 70 or 80 laps on a run before needing to pit instead of 40 or 50, the race would have been a finer balance of entertaining without as much chaos.

Nevertheless, Bristol on St. Patrick’s Day, 2024, is a race that will be discussed for years to come.