Even though Phoenix Raceway boasted a “sold-out” sign before the race kicked off, a quick poll by Jeff Gluck painted a different picture of fan sentiment. The disappointment was in the air, with many voicing that the race just didn’t bring the excitement. Besides, as per the spectators, the short-track packages got a lot of flak, making it tough for drivers to pull off passes. However, the story isn’t new; fans have been debating Phoenix as the final showdown location since 2023. Yet, there’s a fresh perspective coming in, thanks to a NASCAR insider. He suggests that while Phoenix might not be the best pick for Cup races, the Goodyear tires also share some of the blame.

Insider says that the track is not as bad for Xfinity as it is for the Cup races

On the latest episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, “Phoenix: The worst track in NASCAR”, TJ Majors, Brett Griffin, and Freddie Kraft chewed the fat on spicing up the Phoenix races. Majors initially shrugged it off, saying we’ve just got to roll with it. Yet, he switched gears to talk tires, hinting they might be the hiccup. He argued no amount of tinkering with diffusers or whatnot would matter without more horsepower. The only quick fix? Play around with tire options. Goodyear’s been experimenting with new tire sets for short tracks, and Phoenix was their first test case.

Majors pointed out, “The tire is the problem. The tires like center right I mean, you know what just- Don’t even change the tire but you get two sets. That’s it. You get three sets for two sets laying there once in on the car. You gotta run 100 laps each to, you know, it’s 312 lap race.” Essentially, the teams are limited in how they can use tires to make the race more dynamic.

Kraft joined the discussion saying that pretty much every NASCAR team has the same strategy- that is, to run 100 laps with one set and another 100 with the other one. Taking the discussion to another level, Kraft wondered if Phoenix is the snooze-fest of the track lineup, and Majors didn’t mince words – for the Cup series, it’s a bit of a yawn. “For Cup cars, yeah, it’s probably the snooziest. But Xfinity races? They’ve got a bit more action. Those cars let you play more, get up close, and shake the lead car loose. Cup cars? Not so much.”

Majors added, “They can’t manipulate the only… the only real area manipulate is the wake. And you don’t really like… like we talked about before when they went to the new car, remember we saw somebody drive right behind somebody, they didn’t get loose at all, they got super tight. They took that took away all the passing all the offense you could play behind somebody.” Yet, Christopher Bell, fresh off a win in Phoenix, in his latest interview opined that the spring race at Phoenix will most likely have its own unique flavor.

Christopher Bell asserts that by the time the championship race rolls around, NASCAR will have a new plan

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The recent tweaks to the cars for the shorter tracks and road courses, especially with those beefier tires, had some teams scrambling, like Hendrick Motorsports, who just couldn’t nail the setup this time. But Christopher Bell‘s not sweating it for the long haul. He’s pretty confident that come November, with the championship up for grabs, nobody’s gonna drop the ball—they’ll have had plenty of races to perfect their approach. 

Read More: NASCAR Fans Ruthlessly Bash a Lackluster Phoenix Race to Declare “It Needs to Go”

“They’re not going to miss it November whenever a championship is on the line and they’ve had however many races to get their setup dialed in. It just takes time with these changes to optimize it.” He’s betting that when they return to Phoenix for the big showdown, the competition will be neck and neck, with the top contenders battling it out hard from the get-go.

Also Read: The Perfect Lap at Phoenix by Kevin Harvick; The Greatest to Ever Conquer The Track