NASCAR exec John Probst comments on tire wear at North Wilkesboro, what's next

NASCAR and Goodyear came together to put a softer option tire on the Cup Series cars during the All-Star Race. The results were mixed but mostly negative. It seems more aggression is needed on the tires.

During practice, there was promise in the option tire. Then again, that was under the heat of daylight and not under the lights at night. One lesson from Bristol this year is that track temp and the surface material of the track make a huge difference on tire wear.

Under the cool night sky, the North Wilkesboro track did not wear down tires like it did in practice. The repave is great, there are multiple grooves on the track, and it allows for great racing, under the right conditions.

After the All-Star Race, NASCAR’s John Probst made some promising comments. He wants to get more aggressive on the tires and possibly use them later this year. Depending on testing, of course.

“Yeah certainly we’re obviously still getting feedback from the garage, but I can say hats off to Goodyear for getting aggressive with this tire,” Probst said. “It did a lot of things that we thought it would do. I think we saw some pretty good racing out there. I think we gave teams some strategy to choose from. Did everything go exactly as we thought? No. I think we would have all liked to see the tires fall off a little more. Credit to the 22 for doing something that honestly, Friday in practice and working with Goodyear, we didn’t think you could do.

“We didn’t think we’d see somebody run it that long and that hard and have it hold up that well. So the good thing is we’ve got some tire tests coming up here in the near future at Iowa and Martinsville. And we’ll just get more aggressive. We’ll keep stepping up on it. And it’s always hard when we come to a track and you practice in the daylight, you race at night. The track temperature has a lot to do with how the tires perform. So, we’re going to stay at it. By no means are we done. We’ll get more aggressive.

NASCAR and Goodyear had good intentions with the new tire. Bristol was the best accident that could have happened to stock car racing in 2024. Tests at Iowa and Martinsville could produce another tire that wears down.

Goodyear should keep at it. The intermediate races are so great. Improving short-track and road-course racing will only make the sport more exciting.