Tires are the only point of contact between the car and the racetrack. So it’s no surprise that understanding the tire is extremely crucial for the teams and the drivers. The Crayon 301 at New Hampshire turned out to be a bit of a hit-and-miss race for the teams when it came to the tires.

In the recent episode of NASCAR Live, Jeff Gordon, Vice-Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports spoke about the tire situation at the New Hampshire race. He explained how the tires affected HMS and the other teams on Monday.

Goodyear, the current tire supplier for NASCAR came up with a new tire compound for the race at New Hampshire. When the teams tested the new rubber, drivers had quite a bit of mixed opinions regarding the new compound.

Jeff Gordon calls out Goodyear for the unexpected behavior of the new tire compound at New Hampshire

Speaking to Mike Bagley during the NASCAR Live! podcast, Jeff Gordon spoke about how his team was initially quite satisfied with the new rubber. But quickly turned and explained that the behavior of the tire during the race was not what they and perhaps the other teams were expecting.

Bagley started the conversation by saying, “I know that the folks at Hendrick have to be happy, a bittersweet day at New Hampshire yesterday, with what happened there. Kyle Larson in the #5 car finishing in the top 5. But it seemed to be an up-and-down day for everybody at New Hampshire. How would you thumbnail the Hendrick efforts yesterday?”

To this, Gordon replied, “Yeah, I mean just in general, New Hampshire has been a tough track for us.”

“It has a lot of the challenges, it’s a rough race track…it’s very flat”.

“You know we were really hopeful because Chase did the tire test up there, and really liked the tire that Goodyear ended with, that they were coming back with. But, and not just us, but a lot of other teams noticed that the tire reacted a lot different when we went back for the race.”

“So, there are definitely a lot of challenges.”

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The drivers were asked to explain how the new rubber was working after they had tested it. The response was a mixed bag of opinions that really gave away nothing as to how the new compound would fare during the race.

Drivers were unsure of the new tire compound introduced by Goodyear for the Crayon 301

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NASCAR made the switch to a different rubber compound for New Hampshire compared to last year. Some drivers, including Kevin Harvick, were not even aware of this change. While others thought that the new rubber would have no impact on the racing at all. Here are a few responses from the drivers when asked about the impact of a new tire compound.

“I didn’t know it was new. I had no idea,” Kevin Harvick said. “As we’ve gone through last year and the beginning of this year, there are some places that are a little bit different on the tire compound to the other short tracks. This place is a little bit unique and I am sure that’s why they switched it up a little bit for here.”

While Justin Haley thought it would have no impact at all. “I’ll have to see, but I ran it in the simulator and it seemed similar,” said Haley. “I am obviously curious, and glad that we’re taking small steps in the right direction, but is it going to b a completely different race? No, it’s still going to be a normal race.”

“Anytime you soften it up a little bit, you hope it falls off more,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “I think for us that’s what we’re hoping for.”

William Byron said, “It definitely feels like it has less grip. I don’t know other than that, it feels like it’s under-gripped which probably will make a good race. I am excited, I think it will make for a good event.”

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What do you make of the drivers’ opinion about the new rubber that was used at New Hampshire? Share your thoughts in the comments.