Denny Hamlin crosses over the start/finish line to claim his win the 2024 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
MOTORSPORTS NOTEBOOK
There will be a new twist to the NASCAR drama this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Over the past two Cup events at Bristol, Kyle Larson led a total of 873 laps en route to easy victories.
From social media polls to talk shows, the national fan response to that domination in the Next Gen car ranged from lukewarm to negative.
That's why officials from NASCAR and Goodyear have decided to use a softer right-side tire compound for Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Will BMS fans see a replay of the wild 2024 Food City 500 spring show which featured a record 54 lead changes and continual tire issues?
Hendrick Motorsports Cup regular Alex Bowman offered his crystal ball views during a Zoom conference last week.
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"I think we've all chased after that one magical race that we had with really high tire wear and tried to recreate some of it," Bowman said. "It's interesting how (Bristol) creates really high tire wear at one point and then you come back the next day and don't see any of it. It's just weird."
According to Goodyear senior project manager for NASCAR Mark Keto, the goal is to promote a tire-management component into the overall race day strategy for teams.
"Usually in the fall race here, we see higher track temps than in the spring and the cars put more rubber down," Keto said. "We decided to make a right-side compound adjustment to try to get more treadwear on a rubbered-in race track."
Keto said any alteration to tires comes only after much study and discussion with officials from NASCAR and the speedways.
"It's definitely a collaborative effort between the whole group," Keto said. "There are drivers, folks at Speedway Motorsports, NASCAR and Goodyear involved.
"We talk several times throughout the year and come to a group consensus before making any decisions."
From baseball and drag racing to NASCAR, the unpredictable weather in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee is always a variable.
With the new tire compound, Keto hopes that Goodyear has found a balance between the unpredictable weather and the unique concrete racing surface.
"It's softer, but not softer in the sense that we're trying to add a bunch of grip," Keto explained. "It's softer in the sense of we're trying to get more tread wear.
"When we know the track takes rubber and is rubbered in, tire wear and tire fall off get reduced. We are trying to get more tread wear when the track has rubber on it."
Entering the Food City 500 this past April, drivers, crew chiefs and fans were anticipating another version of the 2024 "Tire War."
Denny Hamlin finally emerged as the survivor of that marathon test which saw 16 different drivers lead at last one lap.
"We thought it was going to be high tire wear again for the spring race earlier this year," Bowman said. "We all rode around on the bottom at the start and went really slow for a while."
Then the drama turned.
"A couple of guys decided they were just going to go fast to see what would happen, and their tires never wore out," Bowman said. "It's been an interesting couple of years at Bristol trying to figure out things."
Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain is expecting another guessing game this weekend.
"The up and down weather definitely changes how the rubber is reacting with the concrete at Bristol," Chastain said. "We will be paying very close attention to every degree of it this weekend, whether it is the ambient temperature or how the sun is hitting the track and the corresponding track temperatures."
Just like NASCAR fans, BMS president and general manager Jerry Caldwell is anxious to see how the tire twist impacts the high-stakes Saturday night show.
"Kyle Larson has been dominant here of late, but this change from Goodyear may throw him a curveball," Caldwell said.
KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY: It was another good night for Zeke Shell on Friday as the Bluff City driver earned win No. 13 in the Late Model class.
Shell is chasing the NASCAR Weekly Series Tennessee state championship, while Brad Housewright (Kingsport) continues to lead Kingsport Late Model standings.
Kevin Canter (Abingdon) collected his ninth victory in the Mod 4 division and Steven Watts (Kingsport) pushed his win total to 10 in Pure 4.
The full list of winners included Rusty Clendenin (Church Hill) in Street Stock, Tristan Barnes (Draper) in Super Street, Tyler Conway (Kingsport) in Crown Vic and Joshua Collins (Kingsport) in Stock FWD.
agregory@bristolnews.com Twitter: @Greg_BHCSports (276) 645-2544
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