NASCAR’s New Hampshire Cup Race Broke New Ground for Stock Car Racing and Here’s How

NASCAR’s visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this season saw the Cup Series drivers and teams go through with something they have not done before. In what was a turning point for American stock car racing as a motorsports phenomenon, the NASCAR big league went racing in damp conditions with wet-weather tires for the first time in history.

The 2024 USA TODAY 301 debuted Goodyear’s alternate tire compound during green flag race conditions on Sunday after a lengthy rain delay threatened an early end to the event in Loudon. As the rain showers stopped at the venue, the governing body decided to partially dry the track, saving crucial time of day and broadcast window with the intent to restart the race.

The resulting action on the 1-mile-long New Hampshire track saw drivers battle in inclement conditions with multiple grooves and a feeling of controlled chaos ensuing at any moment. This art of racing in the rain, or rather after the rain could lead NASCAR into a new era where wet-weather tires might be seen on the track more often.

NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer elaborated on the thinking behind the decision and what that meant for the event and said, “Oh, we would have had to call the race if we didn’t have wet-weather tires. We’d have been done with 82 laps ago. It gave us an opportunity to get back green.”

The governance was also seen dictating whether dry tires were allowed on the damp track during green flag running along with when to pit for new ones. The decision to do so met with some backlash from the fraternity as to why multi-million dollar race teams need coaching on making in-race decisions.

Sawyer touched on the reasoning behind it and said, “There’s still some things that we’re learning through this process, and in all honesty, we’d like to be out of the tire business. We’d like to just turn that over to the teams. But as we continue to take small steps and learn, eventually, we’ll get there. We just want to do this in the safest way possible.”

Several drivers approved of the gamble as they seemed to be on board the idea of NASCAR racing on short tracks in damp conditions. One such driver was RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher who spoke favorably about the same and said, “Oh, ultimately, yeah it was a success. I mean, we’ve finished our race. I think it worked.”

With another tool in NASCAR’s armory to use against inclement weather going forward, it would be interesting to see how wet-weather stock car racing develops as teams and drivers gain more experience.