Concern over tires at Iowa Speedway after multiple blowouts during NASCAR Cup Series practice
The first-ever NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Iowa Speedway is over. It just took much longer than expected to get through it. Multiple drivers blew tires during the session after roughly 20 laps and that has caused concern.
Are we going to see a repeat of Bristol from earlier this season? That race was lauded as a success overall. But it had its issues. Teams had to adjust on the fly thanks to the tires wearing out so quickly. It looks like we could see something similar at Iowa.
I do not think this will be a normal short-track race. The NASCAR Cup Series at Iowa might provide us with one of the better races of the season. Or, it could be a disaster if the tires don’t create good racing and wreck cars every few laps.
Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, and Tyler Reddick all suffered flat tires in one way or another. Not a good outlook right now, but there is still time for teams to make adjustments.
Gibbs missed the wall.
Christopher Bell slammed into the wall hard. He might have issues this weekend once again. It’s been a tough regular season for Bell.
Now, it wouldn’t be NASCAR at Iowa without a little love for the farmers. Ross Chastain didn’t want his corn getting shucked so they put his car on the dolly, a new device being used to avoid damaging the underbody of the Cup cars.
13 minutes were added to the session for the time it took to haul the No. 1 car away.
Both Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick suffered flat tires late in the practice session as well. This might be a bizarre race on Sunday.
NASCAR having tire issues at Iowa
The track at Iowa is unique. It is less than a mile in length but races like an intermediate track. Rusty Wallace was integral in designing the facility and it has been a favorite for many racers in NASCAR and IndyCar since 2006.
Iowa Speedway has put on great races in the past. It has just never hosted the Cup Series before. That means there are unknowns to deal with. The last time tires fell apart like this in an unexpected way was Bristol, and this one is a little more strange.
NASCAR ran a tire test not long ago at the race track to make sure the tires would hold up. Goodyear brought the same tire this weekend that was used at the test. Drivers went 50 laps or so on tires without an issue at the test.
Now, there are problems going more than 20 laps on the tires. The right front is what the main issue was. If the tires make this short track race interesting then I will gladly take it. These races need any help that they can get.