NASCAR goes to Richmond this weekend hoping to finally get a proper footing to overcome short-track racing issues in the Next Gen car. It will be providing tire choices to teams for the first time in a points-paying race after experimenting with them in the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro earlier this year. Though he welcomes the intent, Denny Hamlin is not entirely comfortable.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing star is one of the most dominant drivers in Richmond. He has conquered it five times, most recently in March. What worries him is that the new tire formula could potentially end up giving other drivers an advantage over him. He voiced this self-admittedly selfish concern when talking to the press ahead of the race.
He said, “For me, I think it’s a good thing, but we’ve been so good at Richmond that it could be something that takes away that advantage we’ve had there as a company.” Being one of those who has strongly demanded that NASCAR find a solution to improve the racing product on tracks shorter than a mile, he added that he was glad with the efforts that were being taken in association with Goodyear.
Hamlin and his fellow competitors will be presented with two tire choices on Sunday. They’ll have seven sets of the traditional prime tires – which sacrifice speed for durability – and two sets of option tires – that maximize grip at the cost of tire wear. The limited availability of the second variant will force crew chiefs and drivers to level up their tire management game.
Kyle Busch expresses wariness of natural cautions on Sunday
A race with one too many cautions can derail every experiment that is being carried out. Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch had that in mind when commenting about the newness that will be in force at Richmond.
He said after praising the availability of choices, “The other difference in how the night will flow will obviously be based on how the natural cautions fall.”
Busch is a six-time winner at Richmond. Although his recent form doesn’t suggest that he could end up in victory lane, he could have certain insecurities along the lines of Hamlin’s. The field will be able to get a proper gist of how the race track reacts to the tires during the practice run that is scheduled for Saturday.
