“I believe it adds a gimmick to the sport, and it just gets away from traditional racing,” said Christopher Bell, calling out NASCAR and Goodyear in their repeated quest to bring back option tires. Sure, Bell had won the race, but for a little while, it was touch and go there.

After Preece’s charge up the field, things were looking. Bell even lost the lead, so the #20 driver being unhappy with the options wasn’t too much of a surprise. However, when one of the biggest legends of your sport backs a claim up, you know it’s serious. That’s what happened when Kevin Harvick chimed in on the debate.

Although Kevin Harvick accepted that they offered a strategic element, concurring with Christopher Bell that softer tires have no place in a championship race.

He stated on his Happy Hour podcast, “Christopher Bell had a strong opinion on the two tires in the race that he mentioned in the victory lap, and I tend to agree with him on that. I think that two tires in a race are a little bit ‘gimmicky,’ and in this scenario, I like the fact that NASCAR and Goodyear said let’s have the option tire for the race, and that adds a lot of elements for us to talk about. But I agree with Christopher on the gimmicky side of it in the championship race scenario with all the timing of the cautions and everything that has come out. I want the tires to wear out and the driver having to make choices and take off and fall off and I wanna see the guy that can manage his tires and keep his track position. I think that the softer tires were well received and seemed to wear well.”

It was clear there were winners and losers from the option tires strategy. Ryan Preece from RFK switched the tires before other drivers on the grid and the gains he made on track were impossible to ignore. He gained 25 positions on track to lead 34 laps of the race! Now imagine if a driver had saved these tires for the last stage, and had everyone continued with other tires, the driver would be impossible to beat. Even Joey Logano, who got hit with a penalty, switched to the red tires earlier than planned and covered the ground lost by his penalty.

When you think about the layers it adds to the racing, the options sure do sound like a good addition. But wait. Race winner Christopher Bell had bigger problems with the tire. “The option tire. Does it produce comers and goers? It does, but also, if you’re not good, then you’re gonna do the opposite, right? So what do we want the champion to be? Do we want the champion to be the best car, or do we want to be the guy that sucked all races and saved a set of red tires that got the lucky yellow? Yeah, I am very torn on it, and we’re getting further and further away from traditional racing.”

But if it’s all about traditional racing, wouldn’t adding these tires mean NASCAR will be on par with other racing leagues? Bell, right after his win, made it clear the difference the options made. “I hate having two compounds. Where one compound is this significant advantage in the race, I understand that other forms of motorsports do it. F1 does it, Indycar does it. But they also don’t have planned yellow flags at the stage breaks like we do. Or they don’t even have stage breaks, period,” he explained.

It simply might just come down to the objective of the Next-Gen car. NASCAR wanted parity among teams to ensure fair racing. With options, could the argument be made that one driver is simply overtaking the other because they have an advantage? Denny Hamlin certainly thinks so.

Well, let’s be clear about one thing. Hamlin is all for the options coming in. He explained on his podcast, “I think you would have fantastic racing no matter what with just the straight … option tire. But I know there are going to be some counters here that, ‘Yeah, there was a lot of passing because some were at a deficit of others.” 

It is unclear if NASCAR will heed its drivers’ opinions or move forward with more significant modifications.

Goodyear Defends Option Tire Experiment as a Win for Strategy and Entertainment

Goodyear is pursuing its option tire experiment in Phoenix despite driver complaints. Teams had to control wear and modify their pit strategy because of the softer tire. “It went according to plan.”

Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s Director of Racing, defended the experiment. “Phoenix went according to plan with the option tire. The feedback we received was that it introduced a strategic element to the race, and the lap time differences between the primary and option tires were in the range we expected,” he said. “The challenge was managing tire wear, which is exactly what we were looking for. It gave teams choices, and that’s an important factor in these types of experiments.” 

Expressing contentment with the performance of the alternative tire in Phoenix. To obtain track positions above those on prime tires, teams could employ different tactics depending on when to use the alternative tires. To prolong their lifespan throughout runs, teams also maintained their choice tires.

Mark Keto, Goodyear’s NASCAR Project Manager, referring to the race scheduled for November 2, 2025, confirmed that “If the option tire works well during the spring Phoenix race, it would become the primary tire for the championship race at Phoenix in November.” 

Battles became unexpected due to the speed differential. Goodyear and NASCAR view the tire as a means of boosting competition, even though some drivers refer to it as a gimmick. The choice tire adds strategy and unpredictability, but the debate goes on.