“This Sounds Promising” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Celebrates With Fans As Goodyear Finally Fix Their Disaster Ahead of Martinsville

Published 10/26/2023, 6:21 AM EDT

In today’s next-gen cars, merely having a fast car doesn’t guarantee a driver that priceless trip down the victory lane. A lot of it comes down to the aerodynamics and the overall setup of the car. However, as much as it is true that the teams are not allowed to fiddle with the components of their cars these days, a minor adjustment could go a long way and provide a huge performance advantage.

One of the biggest adjustments falls under the tire section of the gen-7 stock cars. Moving on to the penultimate race of the season, the NASCAR officials have decided to make a major change in the nature of the tires of the cars. Hall of Fame Dale Earnhardt Jr was happy at the decision. And for good reason, especially considering what happened at Martinsville back in 2011.

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s take on the “pretty disappointing” situation of Goodyear tires

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The Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 witnessed Kevin Harvick‘s 16th career win coming at Martinsville Speedway. And with that, Junior finished as the runner-up, despite starting 26th. However, the 6th race of the season wasn’t quite ideal for any of the drivers as the tires were “really cr*ppy” and the situation, was “pretty disappointing,” as per Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While running the practice laps, teams felt like the new tires that Goodyear manufactured for NASCAR’s Sprint car series race at Martinsville Speedway were not laying enough rubber down on the track. Instead, they were coming apart, leaving marble-like marks on the top groove of the racetrack.

Once a car gets into the marbles, it becomes extremely difficult to veer down to the lower groove or even navigate to another lane on the asphalt. According to sbnation.com, Junior said, “After 12 laps, everybody was kind of falling off pretty fast. There were a lot of marbles. You couldn’t get out of the bottom groove; you had to run right next to the curb, or you’d get in the marbles and it’d ruin you.”

“Once you got in the marbles, you ruin that set. There’s no way to get ’em off,” he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr had perhaps thought that the solution lay in Goodyear conducting more tire testing. Luckily, this year’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway is going to be different.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr finally got what he wanted

Veteran FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass tweeted, “The tires for Martinsville are new with a thicker tread than what was run in April. This tire was tested at Richmond in July that drivers felt made the most difference. Goodyear says it is a bit more forgiving and seems to open the tuning window for the teams.”

When this update came up on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s feed, the two-time Xfinity Series champion lost no time retweeting the same. Needless to say, he is happy. And so are the fans.

The tires for Martinsville are new with a thicker tread than what was run in April. This tire was tested at Richmond in July that drivers felt made the most difference. Goodyear says it is a bit more forgiving and seems to open the tuning window for the teams.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 25, 2023

Someone said, “This sounds promising”

Another fan wrote, “Rolling out a new tire in the playoffs sounds logical.”

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A motorsport enthusiast was content with the change. However, they also opined that the drivers could benefit a lot if NASCAR increases the practice time. On that note, they commented, “Nice. Would be great to give the field a little more practice.”

“Good, shouldn’t be 70 laps into a run when tires fall off at Martinsville,” said another.

A user admitted, “Based off what Haley said on the DJD I’m quite excited to see how this performs.”

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With the stakes extremely high, next weekend’s race is going to be one worth watching directly from the grandstands. Don’t you agree? Let us know what you think!

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Written by:

Soumyadeep Saha is a NASCAR Author at EssentiallySports. Holding a Master's degree in English literature from a top-tier university, he has always had a great affinity for writing. In the past couple of years, he has channeled his love and commitment for stock cars into building a career path in the arena of Motorsports Journalism.

Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh

“This Sounds Promising” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Celebrates With Fans As Goodyear Finally Fix Their Disaster Ahead of Martinsville

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s take on the “pretty disappointing” situation of Goodyear tires

Dale Earnhardt Jr finally got what he wanted

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