The moment that first caution flag flew on lap 25, it all made sense why drivers were quick to pit. That concrete track was just gobbling up tires like it was nothing. Kyle Busch, after making up some lost ground from his pit stop, hit a snag he probably didn’t see coming. Over his radio, one could hear him sounding the alarm, “Right rear is gone,” all while he was sitting pretty in 4th place. And after a while, his former teammate, Denny Hamlin, also faced the same fate.

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin became the victims of concrete and tires being immiscible

Following the announcement Kyle Busch made on his radio, he slipped back to 14th, over 12 car lengths behind Denny Hamlin, who had just snagged second place from Ryan Blaney. Kyle Busch’s pace just tanked. One could practically see the grip on his tires vanish into thin air. The TV folks mentioned Bubba Wallace was also losing steam. But it wasn’t just those two; even Wallace’s boss, Denny Hamlin, got a taste of that tire wear too, dropping back as Ryan Blaney scooped up the lead. Then Ty Gibbs swooped in, overtaking Blaney to clinch Stage 1!

The tire wear was off the charts, and it became a real test of who was babying their tires and who was pushing them too hard as the stage wore on. With less than 10 laps left in Stage 1, Busch was trying to keep it together, hoping to make it to the end of the stage without his tire giving out.

And, while Kyle Busch cruised through Stage 1 landing at P28 after dropping from P4 without any crashes or wall hits, Stage 2 knocked him down a notch, and he couldn’t bounce back. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who slipped to P13 because of tire troubles, turned his luck around and went on to win.

Two drivers, two different endings after a similar end to Stage 1

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Kyle Busch, despite a strong start and leading five laps, hit a rough patch on the short track with tire woes and spins, including a pivotal moment at lap 228 when he spun out, bringing out the caution from way back in 31st. He ended up two laps down in the P25, marking his third consecutive race missing the top 20 because of pit road snags at Las Vegas and a rough go at Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who cut his teeth on the gritty short tracks of Southern Virginia, seemed right at home, cruising to his 52nd career win despite a rocky start in Stage 1. Hamlin led the pack for a whopping 163 laps, with his JRG teammates Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. being the only other contenders to lead for a significant chunk of the race.

As the drivers adjusted to the track’s demands, NASCAR and Goodyear had to think on their feet too. The race’s tire attrition rate had the teams on track use up their 11 sets of tires too quickly, prompting Goodyear to hand out an extra set to everyone, a move that proved crucial through the race’s nine cautions and the flurry of pit stops for fresh rubber. And that, to some extent, helped Hamlin and Co.

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