NASCAR Senior VP John Probst on Bristol tire wear: 'I would not want to change much at all'
When it was all said and done, and the rubber was scattered throughout Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR was happy. The race that unfolded in the Food City 500 could not have been predicted, but it was welcomed by fans and drivers.
Even though Goodyear felt the need to go PR mode and put out statements mid-race, they should be proud. Whatever happened with the resin, temperatures, the track, or even the rubber mixture of the tires, was good for business.
NASCAR is looking at Bristol as a success. Senior VP of Innovation and Racing Development, John Probst, more or less said as much after the race Sunday night.
“Certainly a record-setting day for us,” Probst said about the Bristol race. “I know the race teams are probably worn out right now, I know our track crew and folks up in the booth are pretty wore out just from a pretty exciting day all around on the track. Certainly had some anxiety around some tire wear and things like that but all-in-all I think it was probably one of the best short track races I’ve ever seen.”
As far as any changes, Probst isn’t sure that NASCAR wants to make any at Bristol. Teams are going to adjust to these tires to make them last longer than 40-50 laps.
“I know on the allotment we actually removed a set of tires from the fall race coming into this race, that’s on us, not Goodyear. So we actually gave that back during the race, as you guys saw. We’ll go back and look at it all. Man, there were times in the race obviously where there was anxiety around are we going to have enough tires to finish it? But man coming out at the end and watching all that I would not want to change much at all honestly, just give them more tires.”
Right now, all I want to know is, how do we recreate this? NASCAR put on a show at Bristol. Can we do the same at Richmond? Martinsville?
NASCAR will look at Bristol data to figure out secret formula
Data will tell the story about the Food City 500. NASCAR is going to pour over the Bristol numbers. They are going to talk with Goodyear about what went down. Then, it sounds like, they are going to try and do it again further down the road.
Probst continued during his media availability, explaining that they will speak with all parties involved, including drivers.
“Everything appeared pretty normal,” Probst continued. “We’ll obviously look at everything here. We’ll work with Goodyear, we’ll work with the teams and you know, we worked a lot with the drivers frankly, they’ve been asking for more tire wear for a while now, we’ve been working on it. It could have just been a combination of resin, temperature and all of it today. So, we’ll have to go back it’s too soon to put a definitive reason to any of it, but uh, great race.”
If you tell me that you can have a green flag money stop with 50 laps to go on most short tracks this year – I’m taking it. NASCAR did something great at Bristol. Accidental, but great, nonetheless.