Six drivers across both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series participated in a Goodyear tire test at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday and will continue to make laps on Wednesday.
The goal for both divisions is to experiment with various intermediate track compounds that may or may not make it into races depending on what gets learned.
One of the most notable elements of the test is that cars from both divisions shared the track together and it created a new sensation for Xfinity Series regulars Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed and Aric Almirola as they turned laps alongside William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe.
The two platforms are drastically different in that Cup Series cars have independent rear suspension, wider low-profile tires and a completely sealed underbody alongside a rear diffuser. Xfinity Series cars are effectively a fifth-generation Cup Series car with its truck arm suspension, narrower tires and more traditional underbody aerodynamics.
Hill has raced in the Cup Series before but never experienced the dirty air produced by the Cup car behind the wheel of his Xfinity car before. It also provided an eye-opening illustration about how much more drivers in the second-tier have to lift off the throttle to make the corners.
“The Cup cars just have so much more grip than the Xfinity cars do,” said Hill. “We have low downforce, low sideforce, so we can run some decent lap times for the first five laps, and then we fall off really hard, and it looked like the Cup cars didn’t really fall off much. So yeah, there were a few times they got to me, they blew my doors off, and when they got by me, and I got behind them, it was the weirdest thing because their cars, just the way the diffuser works and everything, the buffer that they have, that those cars have, it was causing my car to do some weird stuff, like even down the straightaway.
“It was kind of buffering the car around, so that was kind of interesting — something that I’ve never felt before with having a Cup car out there versus an Xfinity car. But all in all, I mean, the biggest thing, those Cup cars just have so much more grip in the corner, and we’re about the same speed down the straightaway. They just can get through the corner way faster than us.”
Creed shared in that sentiment.
“I got passed quite a few times today and you don’t realize how much faster their corner speed is,” Creed said. “They’re not even lifting all the way off the throttle … maybe just a little bit (but) probably not a lot of brake if any and we’re slowing the cars down with the brakes after a handful of laps on tires.
“Few just blow your doors off and it’s crazy, you’ll be going down the straightaway with them and the pocket of air those cars make, I entered behind one of them and you’re just like, not out of control but way less grip behind them, that pocket of air they punch. It was kind of cool. They’re so much faster and their tire falloff is probably not what ours is…. I’m sure it’s half of what ours is.”
What was learned?
For the most part, this session was more about due diligence and Goodyear just working through its options but everyone seems to agree that the tire situation is already pretty good for the Cup Series on intermediate tracks.
William Byron says, that unlike the short tracks and road courses, there isn’t much of a need to go softer on the mile-and-a-half tracks.
“I feel like the tire on the intermediate actually falls off pretty good,” Byron said. “Sure, it could fall off more, but we’re kind of at the limit of blowing tires or cording tires, and I think, honestly, the tires at Vegas were going down to the cords if your balance was off, and some guys blew tires as we ran laps.
“So I feel like the intermediate racing has been really good, and honestly, I don’t think we need to touch it. Honestly, I think it’s really just a weather thing trying to get hotter races where it’s slicker, but you know, there’s plenty of cautions on intermediates right now, and it seems like there’s plenty of racing going on, so I think the tire is in a good spot.”
To that point, this past weekend at Las Vegas so Goodyear go softer on the left sides and that combined with cooler temperatures actually created a ton of grip but varied strategies that played a factor into race strategy.
Blaney echoed what Byron said and articulated the risks inherent to making an even softer tire after what happened at Vegas.
“It puts Goodyear in a tough spot, and I try to put myself in Goodyear’s shoes, and I don’t want their job because they have a really tough job of manufacturing these tires that we all are saying that we want,” Blaney said. “I don’t know how to make these things. Like, it’s easy to say, yeah, go softer, go softer, go softer. Well, you go softer, and now you have a risk of people failing tires, and you wreck.
“So it’s like, what is that fine line of a tire that does wear but doesn’t blow out … and you don’t really get a lot of shots at it, right? You have some tires here, and then you show up at the race weekend with them. So it’s a tough job, but really, I just look for off-throttle time. How do you get the tire to be slick enough where you have to bail out of the gas and have to creep back to it?
“I think that’s just what we need on the mile-and-a-halfs, and they’re getting there. I mean, they’ve made huge improvements the last few years, and I applaud them for that, so hopefully, we can continue to keep going with them.”
Blaney’s point about off-throttle time was especially relevant given what the Xfinity Series drivers said racing around them. At Las Vegas, on fresh tires, drivers were full-throttle all the way around the race track and that turns races into track position, aero blocking affairs that do not challenge race craft.
Racers won’t to lift off the gas and need to drive the cars.
To that point, Briscoe felt there was room for progress on a track like Charlotte.
“The more we can go softer and have more fall off is better,” he said. “Honestly, this track naturally wears out (tires) more than a place like Kansas or Vegas just because it’s so much more abrasive. … I don’t know what they’re going to bring back (for the Coca-Cola 600 in May) but honestly for me, I feel like (all of the tires tested) did the same thing.
“I thought they would fall off a little bit more but also there’s also not a lot of cars here and it’s not particularly hot either. I’m sure that will change as we get into May and it gets warmer as well.”
Auxiliary goals
For Blaney, this test just provided a chance to improve at a track where he wants to win another Coca-Cola 600 and the logistics were agreeable too.
“It’s a crown jewel but I also slept in my own bed and it was just a 15 minute drive to the track too and can come back do it again tomorrow,” Blaney said. “But it is a big race that we have coming up in a few months. That’s really important. It’s nice to lock this one in.
“I had the option of a couple and I chose this one for trying to get the mile-and-a-half program dialed in and because it’s for the 600. Sleeping in my own bed is nice though.”
Briscoe said he wants to get better for the 600 too.
“It’s one of those crown jewels you want to win,” he said. “Growing up as a kid, it was one of the big ones. Winning it would be special and I feel like we should have a good shot with JGR now and it’s also one of my favorite races from a pageantry standpoint and the whole day with the Indianapolis 500 leading into our race; it’s special.”
But also, Briscoe has only made six starts with Gibbs in the No. 19 team if you count the non-points Clash so this was just another chance to get on-track communication down with crew chief James Small too.
“I’ve had to change my driving style the past two or three weeks just to suit how their cars are set up and that was a big focus today,” Briscoe said. “Especially coming off a mile-and-a-half this past weekend.”
What does that entail?
“There’s some secrets to that but for me, my whole approach has needed to be different, in how I go into a corner and focusing on keeping my minimum speed way higher,” he said. “In the past, my cars couldn’t do some of the things (JGR’s) cars do.
“For example, how much throttle I could carry and even how I approach the corner. That was a learning curve last week and today and tomorrow, that’s something I’m trying to improve on, doing what the other JGR drivers do because they have it figured out on these tracks. I didn’t anticipate that when I moved here, how much different I would need to be doing things but that’s just a part of trying to be better, change what I’m doing. I do think sometimes that doing what comes natural is better but JGR is won way more races than I have so it’s just a matter of trying to put myself in the best position.”
Quotes provided from NASCAR.com, RACER.com and Frontstretch.com, whom were all on-site for the media availabilities.
