“We’re going to ask them to manage it. We’re delivering on exactly what we were asked to do.” Justin Fantozzi, global race tire operations manager for Goodyear, grew defensive when asked about last Saturday’s Bristol race. After introducing a new right-side tire combination that would peel off in 100 laps, Goodyear caught drivers by surprise with a fierce tire management race. Although it was the result of 18 months of effort, Denny Hamlin believes there is more scope.

The Bass Pro Shops night race witnessed 38 lead changes and frantic strategy shuffles. Drivers could not make their tires last more than 50 laps, with a few incurring disastrous wrecks. The extreme tire wear elicited controversy from the garage, but Denny Hamlin has a solution for Goodyear.

Denny Hamlin seeks a balance in the car

The names in focus at Goodyear’s second Bristol phenomenon faded outside the top 30. Kyle Larson, the winner of the last two races at Thunder Valley, washed up in 32nd place. Fans did not expect the same fate for Denny Hamlin, who won in spring 2024 during another tire management race in Bristol. He had overcome 54 lead changes that time to stamp a thrilling victory. This time, however, Hamlin ran into trouble on lap 385 after colliding with AJ Allmendinger and having his right-front tire roll away. NASCAR slapped him with a two-lap penalty. Hamlin finished in 31st place and lost two of his crew members for the next two races.

While reconciling with his unlikely heartbreak in Bristol, he also offered Goodyear a method to solve its own dilemma. One reason why drivers like Hamlin or Larson could not cope was the extra emphasis on the right side. So Denny Hamlin instructed Goodyear in a recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode, “My advice would be to put more grip in the left-side tires, take loads off the right, to give the rights a little bit of a break.” This falls in sync with the words of Chris Gabehart, who won the Spring 2024 race with Hamlin. The JGR competition director also called for more balance: “The left sides aren’t wearing enough. They really, really, really have to go to work on the left sides of this track and get a right side that will live.”

Besides the top championship contenders crashing out, others also had a hard time. Josh Berry’s hopes for a strong finish vanished when a fire, likely sparked by burning tire rubber, engulfed his car in the first stage. “It’s a little aggressive,” Denny Hamlin said. He emphasized more control: “You want a tire to be able to go if you want it to go. I could never make it go. I knew if I went hard for two laps, I was toast for the rest of the run… If you look at the lap times, we all went at the very beginning of the race. Some of the fastest laps were like 15.5s. And if you look at every run after that, everyone just started slowing down more and more and more to just try to conserve life. Even cars that were trying to push it couldn’t go anymore.”

Denny Hamlin observed what he could about Goodyear’s experiment from the driver’s cockpit. However, NASCAR’s tire partner is already rolling out the next phase of its plans.

Another experiment is on the way

After Bristol, NASCAR drivers will gear up for New Hampshire. Back in July, three drivers already undertook a Goodyear tire test at the ‘Magic Mile.‘ Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, and Joey Logano got a taste of the upcoming race. Yet Goodyear still has a surprise in store for the entire Cup Series field. It recently solidified its tire compound that it will bring to the 1.058-mile track. According to a press release, it will be the same compound as was used at Richmond Raceway. The left side tires for Sunday’s race will be Goodyear tire code D-5254, and the right side tires will be tire code D-5256.

A month ago, Austin Dillon won the thrilling Cook Out 400 race at Richmond. The race at the 0.750-mile track featured 24 lead changes among 11 drivers. This matched the most different leaders in a race at Richmond since April 2023. The same tire compound was utilized earlier this year in the Clash at Bowman Gray, the Spring race at Martinsville, and the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. Fans widely accepted the Clash race as the best iteration of the event in years, while the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro was also an improved show from a season ago.

With the past performance of Goodyear’s tires on flatter, shorter tracks, a good prediction is in place for New Hampshire. Let’s wait and see if Denny Hamlin and his colleagues will be able to overcome this challenge.