“I’m a big fan of this,” Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez said after NASCAR’s big decision for Richmond. Although Cup Series drivers are currently enjoying their holiday, the second race at Richmond Raceway looming on the horizon. It brings anticipation for the 2024 playoffs, no more than four races away. But the Richmond race is also harboring a new possibility for drivers.

After Goodyear’s success at Bristol earlier this year, the tire brand and NASCAR have been working hard. Tires with higher wear and grip found their way to North Wilkesboro, and would now venture into Richmond as well.

NASCAR’s experiment may pay off this time

For several years, drivers have been clamoring for some sort of change in short-track racing. They especially demanded something that would allow some competitors to outshine the others. Raising the horsepower is a strong debate in this regard. Yet after Goodyear tires wore out ferociously at the Food City Dirt Race and made the event a tire strategy race, the short-track debate attained a new flavor. Now NASCAR has a chance to finally appease racers in some way.

So both the sanctioning body and Goodyear put their heads together for tire experiments. The first of these was held at the All-Star Race of North Wilkesboro Speedway. That hardly produced much impact, as passing problems stayed intact. Dale Jr cited that debacle to express less hope for the upcoming race Yet now NASCAR seems to be cooking something novel for the Federated Auto Parts race in Richmond. Bob Pockrass compared the tire formats for the two races: “In the spring at Richmond, they had eight sets of standard stickers and one set of standard scuffs from qualifying. Next week, will have two fewer sets of standard stickers tires (six sets).”

Basically, race teams would have eight new sets of tires to choose from. These would comprise six prime tire sets, which are standard and longer-lasting, and two option tire sets, the more-coveted, softer tires. Besides the new tire use format, NASCAR’s Senior VP of competition Elton Sawyer noted that the production of the Richmond tires had a longer lead time. “The extra runway has given us some latitude to be able to hopefully make really good decisions as we go into Richmond. Again, once Richmond is over, we’ll have another data point, and we’ll see what next steps are from there.”

Some exciting firsts lay in store for the 2024 Cup Series drivers. This would mark the first time a tire experiment would be used in a points-paying race. Additionally, this is also the first time a single manufacturer will provide three tire options in a regular season race. Earlier, competitors could choose tires from different manufacturers, i.e., Goodyear, Firestone or Hoosier.

So overall, drivers have an endearing outlook towards the upcoming race. They include Denny Hamlin, who reaped the maximum benefits from the tire-wearing Bristol race.

Laying down the specifics

Holding tire-option races may be a novelty in NASCAR, but has been around in other motorsports. For example, new rules regarding different tire compounds were introduced in F1 in 2016, and IndyCar began its alternate tire journey in 2023. So Denny Hamlin responded to NASCAR’s decision for the Richmond race: “This has been a long time coming.” The Joe Gibbs Racing driver dominated the spring season’s race and possesses five victories at the three-quarter-mile track.

But more importantly, Hamlin holds immense prowess in terms of tire management. So he laid down some specifics for NASCAR’s upcoming tire option race to be a success. “A lot of its success or failure is going to depend on what the tire does. Is it fast for just three laps or does it last 10 or 15? You’ve got to have it be faster for 10, 15 laps, and then really be slower 30, 40 laps after that. You’re gonna have to have that rubber mixture just perfect to do that. Every track surface we go to is dramatically different. You would have to create an entire tire chest for each individual track to make it do exactly what we’re hoping it’s going to do.”

All in all, NASCAR does seem to be taking the right trajectory to capture its drivers’ hearts. We can only wait and see if the sanctioning body’s efforts come to fruition or not.