Sonoma Raceway just got its first new coat of asphalt in over two decades, finished up in February. With an eye on making the June 2024 race as smooth as silk, Goodyear got the ball rolling with a NASCAR Cup Series tire test on Tuesday and Wednesday to figure out the best tires for the twisty California road course’s comeback tour on June 9 for the Toyota/Save Mart 35. Martin Truex Jr, who was part of the testing crew, came away with some pretty keen observations on how the new surface and tires felt underfoot.

Martin Truex Jr on the freshly paved track at Sonoma, kicking the car’s speed 

Usually, when tracks get a new layer of asphalt, oval racing might suffer a bit because it tends to lead to a single racing line. But on road courses like Sonoma, you’re mostly dealing with one groove anyway, so a new surface doesn’t really cramp the racing style. The real game-changer is tire wear. However, fresh pavement means a smoother ride, without the usual rough spots that chew up tires. Plus, Goodyear plays it safe with the tires they bring to a new track surface, ever since the 2008 Brickyard 400 tire fiasco.

With the new pavement being kinder to tires and Goodyear’s cautious approach, teams won’t see tires wearing down as quickly, leading to simpler pit strategies focused more on fuel than tire change. To test that, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, and Martin Truex Jr were the guinea pigs for the tire test, each representing a different car manufacturer in the Cup Series, to see how these changes would play out.

Well, the initial verdict has come from Martin Truex Jr, who said they’re hitting speeds on the new Sonoma track like never before. According to him, there hasn’t been much tire wear, which usually spices up the passing game, but there’s still room for tweaking. His longest stretch on the track was around 12 laps.

In a recent chat with Bob Pockrass, Truex Jr was like, “So far it’s been it’s a lot faster. I mean, we’re running, you know faster than track record and race tram for 12 laps, 12 13 laps, it’s the most comprehensive. So, unbelievably faster. It feels like a different place. It feels even narrower than it used to feel because of the speed, so yeah, it’s going to be totally different than ever.”

However, the tire testing isn’t wrapped up yet. Chastain, Truex, and Berry are still hammering away at Sonoma, stretching the first test day longer due to the threat of rain tomorrow. Plus, usually, it takes a while for a new pavement to show some tire wear. But why are these tests so important?

Significance of the Sonoma tire tests?

The deal with the Sonoma tire tests is pretty straightforward—it is notorious for eating up [wearing] tires. The aggressive push-out of turns, coupled with the older surface, means you need fresh rubber for speed. Remember the tire drama at Bristol? While opinions were split among drivers on the extreme tire wear, Jeff Gluck’s poll showed a whopping 88% of fans loved the action.

Tire wear shakes up lap times during a run, just as we saw at Bristol, which is crucial for a track like Sonoma where overtaking is a tough nut to crack. For Sonoma races to keep us on the edge of our seats, drivers need to juggle tire wear and pit stop tactics, especially during longer stints. Take the 2023 race; it kicked off with a monster 50-lap green flag stretch, and back in 2019, the only breaks were for stage ends.

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That’s why these tire tests matter a ton. The aim is to find a tire that wears down, pushing teams to strategize and manage their way through the race. It’s all about making Sonoma races as thrilling as they can be.