With the round of 12 of the 2023 playoffs knocking at the door, every Cup Series team out there is feeling the heat of the battle. However, the heat is not figurative here. NBC Dallas-Fort Worth predicts scorching hot temperatures that could shoot up to 97 degrees this weekend in Fort Worth. Too much heat to handle, don’t you think?

Hendrick Motorsports icon Kyle Larson is a bit worried. And so is Goodyear. The entire community fears that Sunday will witness what happened last year, happening yet again this week.

Kyle Larson reveals his thoughts on why Texas Motor Speedway might pose a considerable challenge to everyone on the grid

Several things go into deciding the nature of a NASCAR race. The temperature of the tracks is one, if not the most important of them. If the track is too hot, the oil seeps out of the asphalt, bringing down the grip of the tires. And this is exactly what Kyle Larson is scared of.

“I think when you look at the weather, it’s supposed to be pretty hot. You know, in the 90s,” he said, “So the track should be a little slicker than normal. It’s a place that you run a lot of throttle. Maybe we’ll be slipping and sliding a little bit more, it is a difficult place to pass but we’ll see.”

That is not all. With the adjustment made in the track by NASCAR a few years back, the banking on turns 1 and 2 has dropped 4 degrees, leaving a lot of room in the lower groove. So, making a three-wide pass would be very common every time the drivers go along those turns.

The #5 Chevy star said, “It’s just interesting you come off Turn 2 and you try to hold it wide open through 3 and 4…carry a lot of speed on the front stretch but you’re on edge doing it so trying to get the balance right especially the temperatures being hot is a challenge on the crew chief.”

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However, reflecting on his win last year at the 1.5-mile-long intermediate oval, he predicted, “Should be a good place for us…we ran well there in the past; I’m excited to get there.”

Goodyear is on high alarm as history might repeat itself

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Goodyear manufactures over 100,000 tires every year for all three top-tier series of NASCAR. It is in the Goodyear dunk tanks that the pre-race and the post-race inspections happen for every car. Hence, it is only normal that Goodyear will receive the blame whenever any tire issue, other than accidental damages, arises.

According to NBC, “Texas is an unpredictable 1.5-mile track. Last year – in the first season of the NextGen car – there were nine tire failures, including three that occurred while a driver was leading the race.” Last year at Texas Motor Speedway, drivers including Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick spun out after losing their right-rear tires.

Even race winner Tyler Reddick was anxious as he had experienced his car shaking a lot during the closing laps of the race, but luckily, he did not run into any such issue.

Meanwhile, Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief for Kevin Harvick tweeted the main reason behind the multiple tire issues. He wrote, “The reason there are tire issues is the shock limiter rule. The teams wouldn’t be running the tires lower if you could get the car lower in the back and the diffuser to its optimal downforce point. If you could run the car lower with the suspension you would actually run more air in the tires to keep the travel more consistent.”

Many might have blamed Goodyear for this, but Chase Elliott said, “Goodyear always takes the black eye, but they’re put in a really tough position by NASCAR to build a tire that can survive these types of racetracks with this car. I wouldn’t blame Goodyear.”

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