NASCAR pleased with show from softer tire, more horsepower at Phoenix

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway was just about at the sweet spot of what the industry seems to be looking for with tire wear.

“I’d say we’re pretty close,” NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I’ll tell you one thing, nobody was disappointed from the team’s side or from our side, the sanctioning body. Yes, we had a nice, soft tire; it wore out. It had great fall-off. The drivers had to drive the cars; they were not as easy to drive. [Along with] the extra horsepower, the short-track diffuser, it’s kind of all coming together.

“Do we like all of those cautions? Maybe not, but that’s just aggressive driving, and these guys are out to win.”

The race featured a record number of cautions over the weekend with 12 owing to various reasons, such as driver contact, blown tires and stage breaks.

Perhaps knowing what was to come (given there were tire issues Saturday in practice), the official Goodyear Racing account took to social media ahead of Sunday’s race with a message. It read, “Before we go racing, remember: The recommended tire pressures weren’t guesses.”

While the racing was fierce, a number of drivers had tire issues, including Keselowski. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Brad Keselowski had a tire issue in practice Saturday, which forced his team to use a backup car for the race. Riley Herbst and Chris Buescher also had tire issues in practice. Noah Gragson, William Byron, Connor Zilisch and Michael McDowell were among the drivers who had tire issues in the race.

Goodyear brought the same tire setup that the Cup Series team used at Phoenix in the fall. It was the same left tire that had also run at Bowman Gray, Martinsville Speedway (spring), North Wilkesboro, Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire last season.

“I can promise you, nobody ran the recommended pressures at Phoenix,” Keselowski said in his guest host role on the Dale Jr. Download this week. “Whatever they run, there’s always this inside joke in the garage area, like just subtract two and you’re like, that’s probably still safe.”

Moran said NASCAR is hopeful that what was seen at Phoenix occurs at other races.

“We’ve got a slightly softer left-side tire for Martinsville, which is basically pretty much as soft as we can go, and we can do it at Martinsville with the testing and everything that’s happened there,” he said. “So, overall, it was a great success. Goodyear has put a lot of time and effort in; the teams are 100% behind it and those drivers had to drive those cars on Sunday.”

The softer tire, however, was only one part of the equation. Phoenix was also the first points race in which Cup Series teams had the increased horsepower from 670 to 750.

“It certainly looked good on the track,” said Moran. “Again, just the combination of that – the slightly different aero package, less downforce, softer tire, more horsepower. That all adds up to the car being basically more difficult to drive, for sure, and this is what the drivers have been really wanting and asking for. Yeah, overall, I’d say it was an awesome weekend for the Cup Series and the new package.”