RICHMOND, Va. -- While some drivers fumed about the end of Sunday night's race at Richmond, another took several minutes to rave about the fun option tires that Goodyear and NASCAR implemented for the Cup Series event.
That man was Daniel Suarez, a driver who used one set of option tires to lock up his first stage win of the season and another set to secure a 10th-place finish at the Virginia short track.
"It was fun, man," an excited Suarez told AltDriver on pit road after the race. "I give a huge credit to NASCAR and Goodyear for bringing this option tire, because it's a lot of fun.
"I don't see why we don't have an option tire everywhere we go."
The option tires -- or reds -- did not make their debut in the race until the end of the first stage. The entire field stopped on pit road and the overwhelming majority stuck with the yellow prime tires that were harder with less grip and less falloff.
Suarez's team and Michael McDowell's team took a different approach. They took the opportunity to put on the option tires to see if they could gain any advantage.
This move paid off in significant ways.
There's pace in those option tires!
The Nos. 99 and 34 are charging through the field. 👀 pic.twitter.com/dsIv4TQNro
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 11, 2024
McDowell restarted at the rear of the field. He passed eight cars in the first few laps of the stage and then made it inside the top 10 in under 20 laps.
McDowell went back to the prime tires during green flag pit stops in stage 2, but he was able to maintain his spot inside the top 10 long enough to score five stage points.
McDowell ultimately finished the race in the 15th position, only his third top-15 finish at Richmond in 27 career starts.
Suarez restarted 16th after putting on the red tires. He was within striking distance of the leaders in 10 laps and then he took the lead on Lap 93. He went on to build up a three-second advantage over second place.
Like McDowell, Suarez went back to the prime tires during green flag stops, but he was able to go on and win the second stage.
Suarez was also chasing down Austin Dillon during the final stage on his second set of option tires. He was one second faster but could not take advantage due to the caution that sent the race to overtime.
Suarez still went from what could have been an average day to one in which he gained a playoff point and added another top-10 finish.
"We knew that if we put the red tires on when everyone else had them, it was going to be no big advantage," Suarez said. "So we decided to put them on a little bit early, and it worked out for us."
AltDriver talked to multiple drivers after practice on Saturday. The overwhelming feedback was that the option tires were great and that they should be the standard moving forward. These tires provided a healthy mix of grip and falloff, which helped create competitive racing.
These opinions did not change after the race. Ryan Blaney called the tires "neat" while Chase Briscoe highlighted the amount of movement throughout the field. McDowell said that the tires changed his night in that they took him from being in a free pass position to being in contention for a top-10 finish.
NASCAR came away similarly happy about the results. SVP of Competition Elton Sawyer met with media members at the NASCAR hauler after the race -- mainly to talk about a controversial finish -- but he also discussed the option tires.
"Hats off to Goodyear and all the folks in Akron," Sawyer said. "Their team has done a phenomenal job with the option tire, and I thought we learned a lot (Sunday). There was a lot of really good strategy with it.
"If you look at what the 99 and 34 did early, I mean, they kind of saved their races. So, I thought there were a lot of positives there. We'll debrief on that topic as well with Goodyear and our competitors and see how everyone thought it went."
Based on the reviews from drivers, Goodyear, and NASCAR, the option tires have a future in Cup Series competition. What this entails remains to be seen.
Some drivers would like to see the option tires become the new standard for tracks, others would like to have multiple tire options at multiple tracks on the schedule.
Suarez just simply wants to see these tires more frequently because of how they impacted the race.
"If you can find somebody here that didn't like the race, bring them over," Suarez said. "Because I don't think you can find one person.
"This is just... it's more fun. You bring more strategy to the table, more passing. It's fun as a race car driver, for the teams, fans, (media). It's a good thing."