Denny Hamlin Demands NASCAR to Let Teams Control Goodyear’s Alternate Solution

Denny Hamlin was one of the first drivers who was optimistic about a new softer tire compound that Goodyear brought to the All-Star race. This was after the practice runs on Friday, when the weather was hot and sunny. However, the cooler temperatures during the main race switched things up a bit, leading to the tires lasting longer than expected.

Despite not being the most promising result for the All-Star race, this was indeed a good attempt by Goodyear to improve the short-track racing package. And while they are the ones responsible for trying to improve the racing experience, Hamlin believes teams and drivers should be added to this mix.

Denny Hamlin believes option tires can be used on multiple racetracks

It’s no secret that NASCAR’s new short-track package hasn’t lived up to the billing of improving short-track races. And given NASCAR’s stubbornness in not providing more horsepower, a new tire compound seemed like the only way to solve the recent racing woes. Although the new Goodyear option tire hasn’t proved to be a game-changer just yet, Hamlin wants NASCAR to allow the teams to experiment with it during the races.

Sharing his suggestion regarding the development of the new softer tire, Hamlin, talking to Peter Stratta, said, “I think certainly you can go to a lot of tracks. I like an idea of an option tire everywhere. You have an option at intermediate, option at short track and we will figure out when to run it. That typically will lead to more passing throughout the race for sure.”

It wasn’t just Hamlin who appreciated Goodyear’s effort in trying to bring something new to the table. Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team, tipped his hat to Goodyear’s attempt by stating, “I do think a very genuine, a solid attempt was there to try to do something different, and unfortunately, kind of the everyone’s surprise, the tires didn’t have the fall-off, the degradation that we thought it would have.”

It’s fair to say, that Goodyear and NASCAR still have a long way ahead of them before cracking the short-track package code. At the same time, by no means was the tire experiment a failure. All it needs is some time and effort, and that’s exactly what’s lined up ahead.

NASCAR will look to make progress on softer tires to make them race-ready

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The only real example, or reference point, NASCAR had regarding how they wanted the new tires to fall was from the Bristol race. That night race proved to be a nightmare for most of the drivers, who were unable to adapt to the excessive tire wear. And with the new compound brought in at NWS, something similar was expected of them. While NASCAR did not get the desired result with the option tire, they are still adamant about finding a solution.

John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president for racing development, said after the All-Star race, “The good thing is we’ve got some tire tests coming up here in the near future at Iowa and Martinsville, and we’ll get more aggressive. We’ll keep stepping up on it. It’s always hard when we come to a track, and you practice in the daylight and when we come to race at night, the track temperature has a lot to do with how the tires perform. So, we’re going to stay at it.”

We have seen promises mount to similar outcomes again and again. Hopefully, this time around, they should be able to produce good results, considering they had a positive response from the NASCAR garage over their new tire experiment.