Richard Childress went to NASCAR ahead of Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and warned officials that tire wear would be an issue.
After the race began, several cars spun and had flat tires, and it turned out that the car owners were right. One of Childress’ drivers, Kyle Busch, spun twice – once on each of the first two stages.
According to a tweet from NBC Sports reporter Dustin Long, Childress said on the radio during the race, “(I) went to the (NASCAR) trailer this morning and told them they were going to be in trouble.”
Kyle Larson, speaking to the crew during the broadcast, asked if NASCAR has a crisis management team that deals with tire issues?
Goodyear racing director Greg Stucker held a press conference during the race to discuss the tire problems. Stark said the tire, made from tires similar to those used at the Bristol race last fall, performed much better than on Sunday.
”We tested here last year with the goal of developing a set of tires that would provide better tire wear; that was a requirement from NASCAR and the teams,” Stark said. “We feel like we did a very successful test. We felt like we did last fall “a very successful race. We were fully fueled. We noticed some wear but thought it was stains.”
Stark said one reason could be the resin used on the concrete surface during Sunday’s game. Resin is used to embed tire rubber into tracks. Previously, a different connection was used, PJ1.
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“Obviously the difference is that the resin is placed in the bottom groove instead of PJ1,” Stacker said. “But I still think the track should be on rubber like it was last fall.”
Stark said the exact cause of the excessive wear problem may not be discovered until long after the game.
“We’re trying to figure out what the difference is,” he said. “This is the same package as a year ago. Why he behaves differently is still unknown. This is what we know now. Obviously everyone is in the same boat. There are people who are more capable of handling this than Others. better.”
Post time: Mar-22-2024