This year, Bubba Wallace is aiming for that supreme finish at Richmond Raceway he so unfortunately missed last year. The 31-year-old had no reason to hide his ambitions after the qualifying race today. But the new option tire rule NASCAR has implemented appears to be an ‘if-but’ point for Wallace. The agility required in modern-day racing mandates no scope for hesitations.

Following the qualifying race at the Richmond Raceway, Wallace was asked about his thoughts on the new option tire system. The #23 Toyota Camry XSE driver commented, “Yeah, it’s still an unknown like a question like hey when we’re going to put it on and they’re like we don’t know. We’ll figure it out, so I hope it’s just more tire deg than North Wilkesboro. Logano won(All-Star) I think right? 80 laps, 100 laps whatever but the surface had not much deg there. Richmond chews up tires so hopefully this is a test, a good test today.”

It seems like Wallace is not sure about how the option tires might perform at the Richmond Raceway. The co-owner of his team, however, had some serious thoughts of his own on the issue.

Denny Hamlin feels optimistic about option tires

Denny Hamlin drove past other racers today in an exhilarating manner. His performance was proof enough of the fact that he needed no time for reconnaissance at the Richmond Raceway. After all, it’s his hometown and Richmond Raceway is his playing ground. This is the reason why he is not afraid to outshine his opponents tomorrow come what may. The new option tire is something on his mind as well. But his take on the whole situation around option tires appears to be radically different than Bubba Wallace’s.

Talking to journalists after securing the pole position today at Richmond Raceway, the 44-year-old ace Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, “I mean personally I would love for the option tire to be just ‘the tire’ because I think that you know we stopped around lap 40 or so on that run and I feel like it was just about to take off lap time wise. So that’s what we used to have back in the day so it’s possible.”

Contrary to the star driver for his racing team, Denny Hamlin was all praises for the option tires. What Hamlin said further seems a retort of sorts to Bubba Wallace and to the uncertainty that’s looming around in his head. Hamlin said, “We’ve built a tire that certainly has got some good fall off to it and certainly had some front-end grip as well. So, we’re experimenting to see if we can run those tires uh in a race as just the only tire certainly, I think that’s a viable option.”

Before crucial races, confidence is important. But the kind of confidence Denny Hamlin portrayed with that statement was shocking to many. Even for his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, the confidence from Denny Hamlin on the option tires appeared aggressive. Sharing his thoughts on the new option tires and the kind of racing experience he expects with its introduction he said, ‘‘I don’t for me I need to see it in the race a little bit more because in terms of understanding how it’s going to perform with respect to the option because the track changes so much in practice here at Richmond.”

Interesting? The other racers’ take on the option tires also appears to be a tug-of-war of opinions. For some, it enhances the fun element of racing, for others, it enhances confusion more than anything.

Mixed opinions on option tires

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The introduction of new option tires sparked debate amongst NASCAR enthusiasts. It’s not just the fans, racers and crew chiefs have also joined the discussion. Over the past few races, we have seen a wide range of reactions from the NASCAR community which explains that the opinions around the new option tire system are still a mixed bag. While some are all pumped up and excited about the new tire rule, others have some serious concerns of their own.

Apart from Hamlin, Ross Chastain was all praises for the Goodyear tire earlier. The no.1 Trackhouse Racing driver said, “We did quite a few straight runs on the reds, we were better balanced on the reds than the yellows as we were catching up with never being here, so I felt better on the reds. The fall off, I haven’t looked at other people, but I felt good about the balance trend of my car, just from inside the car.”

Other racers, however, were apprehensive about the new option tires. William Byron is one such name. The 27-year-old from Hendrick Motorsports talked about his experience with option tires before the all-star race. He said, “I just thought that the red tire had a couple tenths of pace on the short run, and then it seemed like, at least for us, once the rubber started to lay down the track just kept getting faster, so it’s a bit confusing.”

What are your thoughts on the new option tires for NASCAR races? Will it help in evolving races for good? Do let us know in the comments down below.