NASCAR testing wet weather tires at Bristol Motor Speedway
Today at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR is at the track with a few teams to test the wet weather tires at the track. NASCAR made changes to the wet weather package this year. There will no longer be wipers, rain flaps, or lights meaning “wet weather” really means “damp track.”
Spire Motorsports (Chevy), RFK Racing (Ford), and Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) are out at Bristol turning laps. Water has been applied to the track to create the conditions that NASCAR is looking for.
Bristol is a tough track when it is dry. Figuring out if wet weather tires are an option at the track could be valuable. Last year, we saw a glimpse of what these tires could do at Martinsville and the Chicago Street Race.
Here is Brad Keselowski turning laps on the wet track.
As NASCAR keeps tweaking the package on short tracks, figuring out wet weather is important. There are plenty of motorsports series that are capable of racing in wet weather and even rain. When it comes to stock cars, it gets a little more difficult.
It will be interesting what NASCAR finds out in these tests. Of course, having a handful of cars on the track is a lot different than a full field. Spray from the water and other factors could make it more difficult than it seems in small groups.
NASCAR wet weather experiment continues
It did seem odd for NASCAR to ditch most of the wet weather package. However, it seems that officials felt teams were putting wiper blades on as an aero advantage, even in dry conditions.
In the Truck Series, I thought that the wet weather tires were solid. They allowed racing to happen where it otherwise wouldn’t have at the Martinsville race. I think the Cup Series experiments with the tires was great as well.
It is unfortunate that NASCAR won’t really be able to race in light rain or even a mist. If the spray is too much, they also won’t be able to race. So, really, these tires are going to be for super specific instances where everything kind of lines up to allow racing to happen.
Is it worth pursuing if you can only use it maybe once a year? That’s not for me to decide. It does feel like NASCAR is taking a step back in their quest to race in wet weather or even in rain one day.