With two NASCAR Cup series victories under his belt in 2024, Denny Hamlin boasts considerable experience in the sport, having driven cars over the years. While NASCAR has made significant changes to its Next Gen cars to enhance safety and performance, one aspect remains unresolved: the tires. The Bristol drama, a recent incident in the sport, has highlighted this issue, prompting NASCAR to seek insights from drivers like Hamlin.

In a recent discussion with NASCAR, drivers Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Michael McDowell highlighted the importance of tire changes for Next Gen cars. They emphasized that improvements to the tires should be prioritized alongside aerodynamic adjustments. Specifically, Denny Hamlin proposed a modification that NASCAR should consider implementing to enhance the performance of the cars.

NASCAR officials meet with drivers every three weeks or so and at yesterday's meeting, the short-track package was a topic. What Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Michael McDowell said about the talk on the next step with tires (fyi size of tires not expected to change) pic.twitter.com/sidO6Qzfbo

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 14, 2024

As per the post on X of Bob Pocrass, Denny said, “We’re just trying to get them to be as aggressive as they can, especially with left-side tires. This next-gen car just doesn’t load the tires as much as the old car did, so they’re into uncharted territory as far as the compounds, but they’ve still got tons of room to go.

Regarding the size of the tires, Denny told that, “Yeah, no. I mean, you know, that was not brought up at all. They were just going to tinker with a few things, but one thing is no more aerodynamic changes and just working on the tires and tracks at this point.”

Bristol Tire Wear Chaos

Goodyear brought the same left-side tire code used since the fall of 2022, but the right side debuted in the fall after a successful test. The combination of these tires was expected to generate more wear, as requested by NASCAR and the teams.

Instead of the usual PJ1 traction compound, the resin was applied to the lower groove. This change aimed to enhance racing but had unintended consequences. the race delivered a record of 54 lead changes on a short track. Drivers and crew chiefs had to balance tire conservation with maintaining pace at the front of the pack. Surprisingly, terms like “dirty air,” “aero push,” and “aero tight” were absent, allowing for pure racing action.

Unlike previous races, the concrete surface at Bristol didn’t take rubber as expected. The extreme cording resulted in marbles accumulating in the corners, affecting grip and handling.

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