Tire-choice strategy element shakes up Cup Series’ return to action at Richmond

The NASCAR Cup Series resumes this weekend at Richmond Raceway with a historic opportunity to try something new with its supply of Goodyear tires. Denny Hamlin — perhaps selfishly — is one driver hoping the outcome of Sunday’s race isn’t new, either.

NASCAR returns from a two-week Olympic hiatus to a Cook Out 400 that will feature two types of Goodyear tires for teams to choose from. Competition officials announced the move on July 16, aiming to stir up the strategy angles and potentially spice up the racing at the last short track on the schedule before the Cup Series Playoffs begin next month.

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Hamlin enters Sunday’s 400-lapper (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) as Richmond’s most recent winner. He converted a mad overtime dash back in March to notch his fifth victory at the 0.75-mile oval. In the return trip, Hamlin and the rest of the field will be presented with tire choices — a baseline “prime” tire that should sacrifice short-stint speed for longer-run durability and an “option” tire made with a softer rubber compound that maximizes short-term grip at the cost of more rapid wear. Prime tires will have traditional yellow sidewall lettering; option tires will be marked with red letters.

The procedures were first used in the NASCAR All-Star Race exhibition in May. This weekend’s application will be a first in a points-paying Cup Series event.

“Well, as someone that I feel like is good there, I don’t love it because I think this is something that I could get beat by,” Hamlin said. “I could have the dominant car, and then someone’s got that extra set of softs, and they come by and blow our doors off at the end. But generally speaking, I think it could be really good and compelling for the show because I think you are going to have people that will use it and be fast for a little while and then really slow. So I’m excited for it. I think that I like their idea of let’s use this at Richmond and see if this could be our baseline short-track tire when we go to all short tracks. So I really like their thinking and testing it out this kind of way.”

Richmond marks the next step in what officials hope will be an enhancement for short-track racing since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022. Officials from both NASCAR and Goodyear seized upon the intrigue created by aggressive wear during the series’ stop at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, testing the option-tire setup at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Iowa Speedway this spring.

The All-Star Race deployment was a first for the tire alternatives, but the effect was measured by North Wilkesboro’s freshly paved surface. The older, more abrasive asphalt at Richmond should make a difference in wear levels.

“I don’t think we really got the full option tire experience at Wilkesboro, just because of the new pavement, but I think Richmond will be a little bit more,” said defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. “It has to be two sides of the scale. It has to be half a second faster, like the option tire has to be a half-second faster for like 10 laps and then fall off a second after that. So it has to be two ways and hopefully Richmond helps that out.

“I’m happy they’re doing something. We’ve done everything else with the race car to try to help the short-track stuff, almost everything. The tire is kind of the last piece that we can touch, so hopefully that helps it out a little bit.”

Tire allotments may also provide a boost. Teams will have seven sets of prime tires (six for the race, plus one transferred from qualifying) and just two sets of option tires for Sunday’s 400-lap, 300-mile event. In the All-Star Race, teams had two sets of each tire type for the shorter 200-lap, 125-mile event, so crew chiefs may have to be more selective in determining when to bolt on the quick-grip options.

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For the drivers, the selective component will be calculating when to push the limits of wear. Hamlin won the Bristol battle of tire management earlier this year, and the know-how of maximizing his equipment from his Late Model days could be a factor again on Sunday. Drivers with a deeper background in dirt-track racing may need to learn new tricks.

“I don’t know if the dirt guys have an advantage,” said admitted ‘dirt guy’ Chase Briscoe, driver of Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 14 Ford. “If it’s slick, then maybe a little bit, but honestly, I think it plays into the pavement late model guys’ hands a lot more just because they’re really good at saving tires, and they know how to do that, where sprint car guys typically struggle with that. I think guys like Josh Berry, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, guys who are just really good at understanding where the tire is and the life of it. I feel like sprint car guys kind of struggle with that a lot of the time just because we don’t have a lot of experience doing it.”

Teams will get more of an idea of how the tire element may influence Sunday’s race with an expanded 45-minute practice session on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App).

“I do think it’ll make a difference, and I’m curious to see what it’s like,” Briscoe says. “Practice is going to be interesting to see how it plays out, and I think after practice, you’ll have a lot better idea of what to expect for the race.”