This weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway has been the topic of all conversation regarding the track’s reconstruction.
Tire fall-off could be one of the negative consequences of the repave. Everyone naturally thinks of the events that occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier in the season, but is it possible that something similar might occur at a road course? Over the course of the weekend, the notion has been discussed among those in the garage.
In light of this, FOX’s Bob Pockrass spoke with Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott, three of the best drivers in the Cup Series, about the possible tire fall-off and their theories of why it will be mostly caused by the heat.
Brad Keselowski: “You know, we had one set of tires that was just starting to come apart, so I’m not willing to write that off yet. … You know, this sport loves to play that game, when you think you understand and know what’s going to happen, it does a 180 on you. I didn’t think, you know, when we went to Bristol this spring, in our race prep, we said, ‘Don’t worry about the tires,’ because the fall race, we ran like 200 laps on the same set of tires. We couldn’t make 35. So you know, I think it’s that slope of enlightenment, where you realize the more you do this, the less you know. So I have no idea.”
Denny Hamlin: “Not that we’ve seen, no. It’s typical kind of heat in the tires, what’s kind of making it drop off a little bit in time. But once it cools off, it’ll go right back where it was.”
Chase Elliott: “It’s tied to heat, that’s for sure. At least based on how it feels inside the car, it is clearly unrelated to wear. Thus, I’m positive that heat will enable you to damage it.
It’s going to be a very hot weekend at Sonoma Raceway in California, so that’s an intriguing development for the track. Throughout the afternoon, it should lead to even more strategic decisions that are intriguing than those that typically occur on the road course.
In any case, in these circumstances, there always seem to be a few drivers who figure it out better than the others. When NASCAR visits Sonoma Raceway, we’ll see if one of the three drivers stated above dominates the field or if there’s an anomaly.
