Sunday's race at Richmond Raceway will be the first points-paying event with multiple tire options. According to Goodyear Director of Racing Greg Stucker, this may not be a one-time thing.
Cup Series teams will have six sets of "prime" tires available to them this weekend at Richmond. These tires have less grip, but they last longer. Teams will have two sets of softer "option" tires with more. These tires will wear more quickly in race conditions.
The All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway allowed teams to test the option tires in a race. Sunday evening's race could be far more important in how it potentially impacts the future of short-track racing.
"We wouldn't be going down this road if we weren't willing to do it more often," Stucker said during a Friday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "If it's successful, then we will take it as our responsibility to see how we can make it work on a more regular basis or at the right times."
🗣️ "We've left the door open."
🛞 @GoodyearRacing's Greg Stucker gave insight into the potential future of the option tire.
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— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 9, 2024
As Stucker continued to explain, this doesn't mean that Goodyear and NASCAR will break out the softer, option tires for every event on the schedule. He partially shut down the notion of using option tires at intermediate tracks and superspeedways.
The intermediates are less of a concern for NASCAR and its fans. Since the move to the Next Gen era, races at Kansas, Charlotte, Homestead, Las Vegas, and Darlington have produced exhilarating moments and wild finishes.
Superspeedways remain a work in progress considering that there are only two lanes for much of the races. However, drivers have noted numerous times that this is due to aggressive fuel-saving taking place throughout the field. This is not something the option tires will address.
For now, the focus will remain on Richmond and, potentially, on other short tracks on the NASCAR schedule. Richmond is already a track known for the strategy employed by various teams. Adding in the option tires only adds to the experience.
That being, questions remain for the drivers and teams as they prepare for the return of racing. They don't fully know how the tire options will change the race, nor do they know the extent of the tire wear that will occur.
The extended practice session on Saturday will provide some answers, but only to a point. Teams won't have the full answer until Sunday evening's race (6 p.m. ET on USA).
"The Richmond surface is a complete 180 of North Wilkesboro now, so I'd say that a lot of what we knew from there is not going to apply," Chris Buescher told media members ahead of the Richmond weekend. "So we're really kind of starting fresh on this deal as we get into it.
"We have a 45-minute practice, so we do get the longer practice on Saturday to learn, and I promise we'll be taking lots of notes to figure out what we think is gonna happen in the race, but again, it's gonna be an afternoon, early evening practice in the daylight and we're gonna be running this race into the night, so it's not gonna be the best read on what we're actually gonna see in the race."