NASCAR’s recent announcement regarding the introduction of two Goodyear tire choices at Richmond Raceway marks a notable shift in race strategy and dynamics for the Cup Series event scheduled for August 11, 2024. Goodyear will be giving the teams options between the “prime” and “option” tires, which could significantly impact race outcomes. Prime tires are mandatory for qualifying, with teams allotted six sets for the race itself.

On the other hand, option tires present a wildcard element. Teams can use these alternative compounds up to three times throughout the race weekend: once during practice and twice during the race. NASCAR’s decision not to mandate when option tires must be used during the race at Richmond hands over tactical decision-making to the teams.

Dale Earnhardt Jr compares it to past failures

The procedural change for the Aug. 11 Cook Out 400 at the Virginia short track comes after an audition during last month’s NASCAR All-Star Race, a non-points event held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. This application will be the first in a points-paying race.

As per, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, “The All-Star Race is a great event obviously by itself, but it gives us the opportunity to learn. This past year, it gave us the chance to try something with tires, and we’re working really hard in NASCAR as well as the folks at the R&D Center to improve the short-track package. So the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro gave us the opportunity to introduce the option tire, something we’d never done to my knowledge in the history of our sport, to have different compounds during an event.”

Sawyer also indicated that competition officials have had an open dialogue with Goodyear since the All-Star Race, and have held individual meetings with drivers, crew chiefs, and team officials to further the discussion about tires. However, as many have already started revolting, Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins the naysayers, as he is not that excited for them either.

In the July 16 episode of Dale Jr. Download, Dalton Greco, Andrew Kurland, and Junior talk about the upcoming Richmond race, where there will be compound options for drivers. That’s when Dale Jr. was asked the question around the official announcement that NASCAR will try multiple tire compounds for a points-paying race next month at Richmond. Junior was asked, “What is your reaction to that?”

To that question, Dale Jr. responded with less-than-expected enthusiasm, saying, “Yeah, all right, so we’ll see how it goes. Um, it was really a non-factor in the Wilkesboro race, and uh, we’ll see how it goes with Richmond. I’m not—I’m not going to get all that excited about it. Uh, it’s not what I was hoping.”

He further explained, “With the last race we had at Richmond, we came into this room and we went hard about what the, you know, we better get this figured out or we’re going to lose Richmond, or at least a Richmond race, right? So, I don’t want to forget—I don’t want to lose that energy of concern that we had because it was very serious.”

The former NASCAR driver further draws a comparison with what happened at Wilkesboro. He added, “While having 2 compounds did not make a big difference at Wilkesboro, Richmond is a different story. The track requires tire management, and drivers on the softer compound will need to be wary of that.

Although Dale Jr. is not very excited about the softer compound being used at Richmond, he is curious to see how it will affect the race if it does make a difference. So after giving his verdict on the Richmond race, he shared his expectations from the race.

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Dale Jr. mentions that NASCAR might have made adjustments to create a broader gap between the hard and soft tires. This means that the performance difference between these two types of tires has increased. A broader gap implies that the hard and soft tires will have more distinct characteristics, such as varying levels of grip, wear rates, and speed capabilities.

While speaking of the upcoming race and change in tires, Dale Jr. said, “Maybe they’ve made some adjustments and made a little bit broader gap between the hard tire and the soft tire to where there’s a bigger difference in time or speed and where, and so forth. We’ll just see how it goes. I’m hoping that there’s something that can improve the racing at Richmond and get it to where it’s the Richmond that we know and love.”

As fans fear, Junior hopes that these changes will improve the quality of racing at Richmond. Dale Jr. refers to the desire to restore the excitement and competitiveness that Richmond Raceway is known for. By improving tire performance and race dynamics, the aim is to bring back the characteristics that fans and drivers love about racing at this track.

With that said, do you think the new compound will make a difference at the Richmond track? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.