The spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Cup Series returned to the concrete surface on Sunday (March 17). The result was a day filled with 54 lead changes, the most in any short track race in series history, and numerous tire failures.
When the dust and loose rubber settled, Denny Hamlin emerged with his first victory of 2024, his second straight win at Bristol, and the 52nd checkered flag of his Cup Series career. Keep reading for all the tire talk and other pit road stories from The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.
Tires Management the Theme of the Day
It was the one topic on everyone’s lips all race: tires. It became evident early on that the drivers could go about 50 laps on a set of sticker tires before they began having issues, especially on the right side. Crew chiefs up and down pit road took tire wear into account in their race plans.
“Tire wear is an issue,” Drew Blickensderfer, crew chief for the Stewart Haas Racing No. 10 Ford driven by Noah Gragson, said in a pre-race team meeting filmed by Fox Sports. “There is more fall-off than there has been with resin vs. PJ1. We can go 50 laps on your right front tire. It happens fast here.”
Blickensderfer’s statement proved to be prophetic. Josh Berry, Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were just a few of the many drivers who experienced tire failures in the concrete jungle of Bristol. The tire concern grew so loud that NASCAR made an additional set of Goodyear tires available to every team.
Because of the tire wear, the race pace slowed significantly as teams focused more on tire conservation rather than making their way to the front. It was also a choppy race, featuring nine caution flags and only one green flag run longer than 50 laps, with tire-related issues more often than not the reason for the yellow flag.
This type of tire management-style race favored cagey veterans over young guns. Only five drivers finished the Food City 500 on the lead lap; of those five drivers, Martin Truex Jr. (second), Brad Keselowski (third) and Kyle Larson (fifth) are past champions, and Hamlin is a future NASCAR Hall of Famer despite his lack of a championship. These drivers’ prior experience and success served them well in managing their tires and saving some rubber for the end.