At least six of the 16 warnings in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway were caused by blown tyres.
When their right-rear tyres failed, a number of racers, especially Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Chase Elliott, fell out of the lead.
After a specific number of laps, it became regular, defining Sunday’s 500-mile race and changing the playoff picture for the remainder of this round. Yet why? Who is to blame for these problems, and what was the cause?
“I’m not sure that Goodyear is at fault, “Elliott remarked as he got out of his on fire race car. “Goodyear always takes the black eye, but they’re put in a really tough position by NASCAR to build a tire that can survive these types of racetracks with this car. I wouldn’t blame Goodyear.”
In the last laps of the race, race winner Tyler Reddick was “very scared” he would blow a tyre, but fortunately, he avoided such a catastrophe. A few weeks ago, he was coaching Kansas when he did lose a tyre, which contributed to his playoff elimination.
The reason RCR chose to approach this race cautiously was described by his crew chief Randall Burnett.
“We came into this race a little conservative. We got bit at Kansas the other week with one. I think we’ve had four tires go down this year while leading the race. R.C. (Richard Childress) talked to me about it and said, Make sure you keep some air in the tires today. I tried to do that. A little bit more conservative approach this week. It’s a fine line. Everybody knows the speed, pushing the limits of the tires.”
He later added: “As the race went on, got even a little more conservative. Like when the sun went down after the rain, the pace picked up quite a bit, a lot more grip in the track. We were able to come up on air pressures then, just try to make sure that we didn’t put ourselves in a bad spot.
“Make sure you’re not the first one to have a problem, right? We did that. Fortunately it worked out. The strategy worked out really good. The cautions fell for us at the right time. We were able to get back up through there.”
Richard Childress, the owner of the champion team, backed up Elliott’s assertions and supported NASCAR’s tyre supplier. “Goodyear builds a great tire. This was a great tire that Goodyear built for us. Like Randall said, there’s a fine line to push that limit. It wasn’t the tire as much as it is trying to be as competitive as you can.”
Scott Miller, Senior Vice President of Competition for NASCAR, talked about the tyre problems after the race and seemed to suggest that the teams were to blame for not following the advice.
“Obviously, we saw a lot of tire problems and we saw a lot of teams who didn’t have tire problems. We’re working through that. Goodyear is working through that with the teams and working through what the setups were, what the air pressures were, and trying to get to the bottom of it.
“You know, there was a lot of teams that reported no problems to us post-race and they did admit to being a little bit on the conservative side with air pressures and being closer to the suggested minimums that Goodyear recommended.”
Rodney Childers, the driver’s crew chief, offered a thorough explanation of the problem and a suggested resolution on Twitter.
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