The tires used in the NASCAR Next Gen car account for a major part of the costs incurred to operate a race team. Their usage varies based on a variety of factors such as track type, race demand, weather conditions, and so on. Here’s a short overview of the races that generally demand the most from the tires in the Cup Series.
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The Iowa Speedway race and the Bristol Motor Speedway’s night race are two of the most hardcore events on the schedule. Joe Gibbs Racing, for instance, used 13 sets for each car and the cost of them came up to be $27,612. But these aren’t the venues that bring forward the meanest bills. The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race in the series. The Southern 500 is run on the most abrasive Darlington Raceway.
And the Daytona 500 is perhaps the biggest event in the show. All three of these events require 14 sets of tires and an expenditure of $29,736 per car. The race that uses the most tires is Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infamous Brickyard 400.
Including the tires that are used for practice and qualifying, a total of 15 sets were burned through and they cost $31,860 according to Joe Gibbs Racing.
2024 was an interesting year from the tire usage standpoint of view. Goodyear introduced a new softer tire compound to tackle the short-track racing issue and took multiple steps forward.
Such experiments also add to the costs incurred by the teams. The Bristol race that took place in March surprised teams by heavily eating up rubber. They were forced to use multiple sets.
However, the same wasn’t the case when the field returned there in September. A senior executive from NASCAR reportedly told the press that they were “baffled” by the unexplainable behaviors of the surface. These unexpected occurrences leave the pockets of team owners lighter than they anticipate. However, it is not a secret that racing is a heavy-money game.
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin explained earlier this year on his podcast that each tire costs $2,400 for a race at the Texas Motor Speedway. Teams were given eight sets of tires bringing the overall cost to $19,200.
Even if this intermediate figure is taken as the average, the tire cost per year per car comes up to nearly $700,000. It would be so much higher for a team with multiple cars.
An interesting fact that Hamlin revealed is that teams do not get to return tires that they do not use. Meaning, that Goodyear does not provide refunds. It is not always practical for teams to keep the tires stored to use in later races. This often results in the tires and the money spent on them going to waste.
