Many drivers stated they might inform no distinction within the racing two weeks in the past at Martinsville, Va., with the brand new bundle, or in some situations, thought it was worse than final yr.
Formally, the race featured 5 cautions (two for stage breaks) and three inexperienced flag passes for the lead. Two mixed to guide 244 of the 400 laps.
As a part of a scheduled assembly with Cup drivers Saturday morning at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, NASCAR officers in addition to representatives from tire provider Goodyear mentioned a number of choices for the sequence to attempt to enhance the racing product this season.
“I commend all of our drivers. Kevin (Harvick), Denny (Hamlin), (Michael) McDowell – plenty of them spoke overtly about what they had been feeling with the quick monitor bundle,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vp of competitors, informed Motorsport.com.
“We’re three races into that – three ovals and one highway course – so clearly we had all that knowledge. We had all of our workers, together with from the R&D Middle, and in collaboration with the drivers and Goodyear, we mentioned what levers we will pull, what alternatives could also be in entrance of us.”
Hamlin stated he left the assembly “very optimistic” with the dialogue, and believed one space that may very well be addressed is a change within the tire compounds.
In line with Hamlin, Goodyear officers stated the debut of the Subsequent Gen automobile final yr and its 18-inch wheels, shorter sidewalls and wider contact patch prompted them to be conservative and “quite common” with the design of the tires.
“We really feel like we’re comfy sufficient now to start out mixing that up and actually begin getting extra aggressive with our tire compounds,” Hamlin stated. “That’s implausible information for us and hopefully for competitors right here within the subsequent few months.”
Extra testing to return
Sawyer stated he expects NASCAR will do some extra testing – seemingly at Phoenix or Richmond, Va. – after the knowledge from the assembly is dissected again on the R&D Middle.
“There’s not one lever that you would ever pull and say, ‘That’s it.’ There’s plenty of issues that go into it,” he stated. “You’ve received horsepower, you bought tires, you bought aero, you bought the velocity of quick tracks vs. intermediates vs. superspeedways. All of these issues issue into the racing outcome.
“I don’t know that one explicit factor got here out of (the assembly) however there was plenty of dialogue concerning the tires. Goodyear has accomplished an outstanding job and can assist us work via regardless of the subsequent improvement with tires seems like.
“This automobile has a large tire – there’s extra tire on the race monitor. Subsequently, the way in which the aerodynamics work has modified as nicely.”
Corey LaJoie, Spire Motorsports, NEGU Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images
