“The industry has asked for this”: Goodyear responds to Bristol tire chaos, releases extra set  

Goodyear, NASCAR's exclusive tire manufacturer, has addressed the rapid tire wear at Bristol Motor Speedway by releasing an extra set midway through Saturday's (September 13) Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The company's operations manager, Justin Fantozzi, revealed that teams are allotted the 'same amount of sets' as last year's spring Bristol race, where similar conditions prevailed.

The last two Bristol races have been lacklustre due to low tire falloff and fewer overtakes. This time around, the tire manufacturer brought softer option tires to help with the same, but the situation has seemingly gone out of hand.

The cooler temperatures for the night race have scrubbed rubber off the tires faster. NASCAR even had to sweep out rubber buildup near the top lane during a Stage 1 caution. William Byron was also frustrated by the excessive tire wear and was heard venting on his team radio.

This prompted Goodyear to step in and provide an additional set of tires for all teams,

"The team is working really hard to get this extra set mounted and balanced and ready. We're going to go back to the same amount of sets we had in the spring race when we saw this same sort of conditions. We're ready to go," Fantozzi said via Motorsport.com. "The industry has asked for this. We got the best drivers, the best crew chiefs. We're gonna ask them to manage it, and we're delivering on exactly what we were asked to do," he added.

Fontazzi also mentioned how the cooler temperatures resembled last year's Spring Bristol race. The 2024 Food City 500 was a chaotic one that saw a lot of overtakes and 54 lead changes, which became a NASCAR short track record.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. backs Goodyear's decision to develop softer tires

Last month, Dale Earnhardt Jr. praised Goodyear's ability to induce high tire wear and make drivers struggle. He explained that other manufacturers refuse to enter the sport, given that it's bad for business to develop a degrading tire.

"It's not in Goodyear's best interest to make a tire that's failing... Some of these big players in the tire manufacturing world were asked about why they don't want to be in some of the bigger series in motorsports and they said 'they want us to make a tire that degrades over the course of the race. That's not good for our business'," Earnhardt said in an episode of Dale Jr. Download. [17:38 onwards]

Meanwhile, seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty believes high tire falloff 'kills a race'. In an episode of Petty Race Recap after the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, Petty discussed Goodyear's efforts to constantly develop new tires to please everybody. He thought that the series needed just 'four or five kinds of tires'.

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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee