NASCAR’s newest invention—the Next Gen race car—for some reason or another has been mired in controversies. The motive behind the launch of this car was to promote parity racing and allow the field to bunch up close for thrilling race action. But in reality, the car has run into one issue after another, forcing the drivers to bank on track position over anything else.

The fuel mileage racing on superspeedways and torrid short-track packages are some examples of the issues that the car has brought. It’s not that NASCAR hasn’t tried to make amends after the roll-out of this car. The tire experimentation with Goodyear seems to be the way they are looking to solve this issue, but again, this plan does not guarantee success. And seeing the current race cars come out clean and without any major fall-off on tires has promoted a response by Mark Martin.

Mark Martin isn’t sold on Goodyear’s solution to solve the current woes with the Next Gen car

The short-track racing has been affected the worst by the roll-out of this new race car. There’s almost no tire falloff at the short ovals, which leads to stale racing action for the fans and viewers. Without the falloff, the drivers rely on the track position, and hence there’s no need for a different strategy or plan. It’s almost as if the race winner is predetermined and the drivers are involved in executing the race.

This wasn’t the case back in the heyday of NASCAR racing. A user on X shared a throwback moment of Mark Martin winning the 1994 Hooters 500 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And this is where Martin highlighted the big difference in how Goodyear tires have changed drastically with the new car. “Look at the hood. Tires were gummy back then. They just make black powder now days.”

He pointed out how different the rubber on the Goodyear tries reacts when compared between the two timelines. The rubber from the tire falloff was visible on the hood of his car, which gets built up after several laps into the race. But, in the Next Gen car, all we see is the black powder that gets collected on the cars. This raises the question of why there is a day and night difference in how the tires react to the racetrack. There is a clear difference when it comes to the temperatures on the track, with night races being much cooler.

Back in 1994, Mark Martin raced in NASCAR in a time when there was a tire war. Hoosier and Goodyear were the two options drivers could choose from. But 1994 was the last time Hoosier featured in NASCAR, and stiff competition with Goodyear and a lack of driver support were the reasons behind its exit. Perhaps little to no competition is also another reason why the drivers and fan’s demands are overlooked.

Speaking of progress, the new softer Goodyear tire that NASCAR brought for the Martinsville race was indeed a step in the right direction.

NASCAR just might have solved the short-track package issue

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Ever since the one-off wild race in Bristol early in the spring, NASCAR and Goodyear have been trying to replicate the same on other tracks. The race in Bristol saw excess tire wear and drivers burning out the rubber more quickly than they anticipated. This allowed for different strategies and tire conservation that saw experienced drivers like Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Brad Keselowski come out on top.

But the same wasn’t the case in the spring races at Richmond and Martinsville. NASCAR did bring the softer red tire for the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, but that too wasn’t a huge success. A similar pattern continued at the fall races at Richmond and Bristol, but as the playoff race at Martinsville came, NASCAR chose to gamble on a new tire compound, which was a relative success.

Along with the return of right-side option tires, Goodyear brought the softest tire since the Next Gen car was launched in 2022. And it certainly did its job. The fresh rubber certainly was quick, and there was enough wear to an extent that drivers had to conserve their tires. If anything, we saw Ryan Blaney make the best passes late in the race after saving his tires in the final stage.

“The last 70 or so laps, I tried to save my rear (tires) the best I could, because that’s where I started struggling later in the runs,” Blaney said after punching his ticket to the final 4. So, the efforts both NASCAR and Goodyear have been putting behind the short-track package seem to be paying off. However, a repeat of this next year on the short ovals will give us a better idea of whether this experiment was a success or another failed attempt.