“Lackluster racing at Wilkesboro Speedway”: When these kinds of conversations stung NASCAR, and they knew there was a problem. Their short track packages with the Next-Gen car just weren’t delivering the excitement. And it seems they had a culprit–the tires, that weren’t wearing down enough to allow for a dramatic fall-off and passing later in the race.

Hence, NASCAR decided to shake things up with an experiment. And what better place to run the experiment than at North Wilkesboro Speedway during a non-points All-Star Race? 

Chris Buescher didn’t know what to expect with NASCAR’s “options” tire

The overall event was the same with two thrilling heat races and a 200-lap main event. But with no championship points on the line, Goodyear decided to try a red “option” tire, with the hopes of bringing in the spice to the short tracks. Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing said, “It just seemed like this is a good opportunity to see if maybe this is a solution, add something of that risk-and-reward element that’ll improve the overall racing.”

But Chris Buescher, who ended up finishing at the third spot, didn’t seem impressed with this addition. In fact, he was the only driver on yellow “primary” tires in the top five. At the post-race interview with Fronstretch when Anthony Damcott asked him whether the tires [option] indeed fall off as much as expected, he said, “I would say a little less than I expected.”

But he added that being said, they didn’t have a good idea of what to expect in the first place as they didn’t have enough data. He said, “We had very limited data on these tires coming in, so we were kind of guessing anyway. I thought they would fall off a little bit more just from the very small amount of data we had from the tire test here from other teams. It was a nice and cool night. We’ve seen the open. They fell off and the yellows started coming back on a little bit.”

But that being said, the red and softer tires did seem to work well with most drivers, especially the race winner Logano.

Battle of the tires: yellow primaries vs. red option tires!

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If you thought this was the first time NASCAR tried an alternate tire for the race, you are wrong! The stock car racing organization, back in 2015, did try an alternate tire at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Similarly, at the All-Star race, all drivers had to start with a red tire. But an early caution on lap 2 because of contact between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr instigated most teams to pit. And that showed how little they trusted the new tires, and as expected, they replaced their red option tires with the yellow standard ones. All drivers except five decided to pit and change tires. Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Tyler Reddick stayed on their softer tires. 

But as the green flag unfolded, one thing became clear–softer tires held up better. And the drivers who pitted couldn’t catch on to those who didn’t, as the softer tires did indeed not wear out that much. Logano was leading the race without changing tires in the first stage. Looking at this by the halfway mark, teams preferred the “option” tire.

When the competition caution came out on lap 100, the five teams that stayed on the “option” tires maintained the top four spots on the racetrack. Only Christopher Bell was the driver on yellow primary tires standing in the top five. Some teams pitted at caution on lap 150 for the alternate tires they used briefly at the start to gain track position. But that strategy didn’t improve their positions. And by the end of the race, every car on the lead lap was running on the softer tire compound. 

The tires indeed show promise, but it is too quick to base an opinion. Most drivers like Buescher didn’t vibe well with it. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.