It all started with Denny Hamlin when he caught wind of some intriguing chatter about Goodyear’s tire plan for Saturday night’s Bristol race, and he broke it down on his Actions Detrimental podcast. The real talk was about the right-side tires slated for the 0.533-mile, high-banked concrete oval that were virtually shredded almost immediately during testing designed to gauge how they’d hold up over the grueling 500-lap race. And as the rumor turns into reality, NASCAR veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr. is all for it.

Goodyear and NASCAR’s partnership goes all the way back to 1954. And in recognition of this long-standing relationship, the company has committed $25 million annually to sponsor NASCAR through 2027. And this sponsorship has big plans for the final race of the Round of 16. For the first time in four Bristol events, Goodyear is rolling out a slightly softer right-side tire, designed to reduce wear and crank the strategy dial for both drivers and teams. The move comes as warmer weather is predicted for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, a sharp contrast to the cooler conditions that shaped previous races, making tire management more critical than ever.

Speaking on his Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior couldn’t hold back his smile. He said, “The race will start around 70° and should end around 60°. So, I think they’re going to be in good shape. I don’t think we’ll have a cool tire wear situation, but it’ll be interesting to watch the right-side tire and see how it does. I’m glad they’re trying it. The tire was one of the great things about this weekend at St. Louis. They changed the tire. Tires mattered. In the race at St. Louis the year before, putting on tires did not matter at all, so there was no real strategy with that. I love what Goodyear’s doing.”

The move comes in response to the forecasted conditions compared to April’s spring race. Mark Keto, Goodyear’s Senior Project Manager of NASCAR, explained that the aim is to boost tread wear without sacrificing too much grip. Teams will be allotted 11 sets of tires with attraction compound applied to Bristol’s bottom lane to influence racing lines. Remember Denny Hamlin’s thrilling victory at Bristol in March 2024? That race went absolutely haywire, featuring a staggering 54 lead changes driven largely by extreme tire wear. Since then, NASCAR and Goodyear have been working to prevent a repeat of that tire-fuel chaos. In recent years, NASCAR’s shorter ovals have seen a trend toward more aggressive use of soft Goodyear rubber and managing advanced wear.

Dale Jr. added, “Then we had the exact same tire in a completely normal experience at the second race at Bristol last year. And then we came back to the first race this year and again, no problem. They had a little wear in practice, but otherwise it was fine. Now we’ve given Goodyear the confidence, I suppose, in the last two races at Bristol to make a change. Good for them, I guess, expecting that not to be super cold now.”

The weather shift played a key role in this weekend’s entire decision. During the Cup Series’ previous Bristol outing on April 13, daytime highs lingered in the mid-60s across the Tennessee Hills. This weekend, however, the Round of 16 finale will run into the evening, with the green flag dropping after an afternoon forecasted to reach the low 80s. According to Keto, the combination of warmer conditions on highbank concrete surfaces means cars will lay down more rubber, choosing increased tread wear as a strategic priority. But with all this set, Denny Hamlin sounds off alarms over the new tire gamble and still has doubts about it. 

Denny Hamlin compares the softer tires to superglue amid chaotic tire changes at Bristol

Denny Hamlin is bracing fans for potential mayhem at the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol. With NASCAR and Goodyear unleashing a radically softer tire compound for Saturday night, he warns the track could turn into a high-stakes rollercoaster, promising a night of tired drama, unpredictable spins, and edge-of-your-seat action. Hamlin’s latest insight suggests that there is still some uncertainty.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained on his podcast, saying, “Now what Goodyear said to the teams that were like, ‘Whoa, what is that?’ They said, ‘Listen, the thing came right off the line.’ Like rubber takes time to cure, so that once a tire comes off of a production line, they usually try to let it sit for a certain amount of time. Because then the rubber will cure. Think of it like Superglue – Superglue, it’s like liquid and it will mould all round, but eventually that thing stiffens up over time. Same thing with rubber – I’m oversimplifying this quite a bit. And they said that, ‘When we tested it, the tire came right off the line, and so that’s why it essentially melted in the machine.’” 

Already advancing to the Round of 12 after his impressive St. Louis victory, Hamlin admits that he is unsure how Saturday night will unfold, but he is secretly hoping for another wild ride like last March. He said, “Either way, I’m all for team chaos this week. I hope we can’t run 50 laps. I just hope they have enough tires is gonna be my thing.” And now with building momentum on his side, will Denny Hamlin be able to capitalize on his own success at this track?