Goodyear has made giant strides in improving NASCAR’s short-track racing product. The introduction of option tires with a softer compound is the latest and most impactful step among those taken. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott appreciated and lauded Goodyear’s efforts, though he warned against celebrating the option tires and its impact prematurely.
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“If there’s one thing I have learned throughout me doing this, it is that just when you think you start to figure something out, you don’t. Whatever you think you know, you probably didn’t to begin with. So, I certainly don’t act like I have the answers,” said Eilliot at Homestead-Miami while emphasizing the need to progress through changes cautiously.
The option tires have been received well by most Cup Series drivers. Elliott is a fan of them as well. They make up for, or at least try to make up for, whatever lack of horsepower there is underneath the hood of the Next Gen car. However, Elliott’s stand to not go completely overboard praising them is pretty valid too.
The HMS driver was then asked what he thought about his fellow competitors wanting to race throughout an event with nothing but the option tires. Elliott’s response was easy to guess.
The Dawsonville native noted that there will be complaints about one thing or the other regardless of what changes are made, which makes sense considering only one driver can win at the end of the day.
“It’s a super easy thing to say. We’ll do that and somebody will have something to complain about after that. So, you’ll never make everybody happy,” said the 2020 Cup Series champion.
Elliott’s focus is on performing to the best of his abilities no matter what novel introductions happen in NASCAR. That’s an ideal mindset to have given the sea of changes the sport is undergoing as it strives to evolve.
Denny Hamlin is pleased with the option tires on short tracks
Just like Elliott, Hamlin was posed with similar questions in his pre-race interview in Miami. He talked about how the disparity between the fastest and the slowest car was wide when the Next Gen car was introduced. The gap has narrowed with time, and Hamlin called the option tires a “bonus” as it ensures better racing.
“So, it’s bringing a lot of positives. Goodyear is testing themselves right now, trying to get softer at all of the tracks, which will be such a bonus. Every race track we’ve talked about this year and it being a better race, which it has been, you can attribute that to the changes we made to the tires and creating tire falloff,” said Hamlin.
The question that still looms large is if Goodyear can make the demands for more horsepower obsolete solely by improving its tire game. As Elliott rightly pointed out, it is better to remain grounded about it for now and wait and watch how things progress.
