WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — How bad or how good could it be?
That’s the question swirling around Watkins Glen International and the tires teams will compete with this weekend in Sunday’s (Sept. 15) NASCAR Cup Series playoff race.
The tires, which Goodyear estimated could see three seconds of falloff per lap, are the latest attempt at improving road course racing with the Next Gen car.
After Saturday’s action at the 2.45-mile course in upstate New York, early returns are positive.
“The knob got cranked,” Brad Keselowski said Saturday (Sept. 14).
The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver said that in 2023, he felt WGI “was one of the tracks with the least amount of tire falloff. It really hindered the ability for great action.”
After two 20-minute practice sessions and qualifying, Keselowski — who will start 28th — observed “a lot of progress” had been made.
“[Gotta] give Goodyear a lot of credit for going to work,” he said. “Like everything in this sport, when we change, it’s not like a little bit, it’s like ‘whoa!, all the way to the other end of spectrum.’”
The final compound was determined over a two-day test in June as teams tried different combinations of tire compounds. It included Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick.
“I feel like, ultimately, they went with the best one for what we’ve been needing here at Watkins Glen,” said Reddick on Saturday morning, before he was fastest overall in practice (122.469 mph), yet qualified 16th.
All three drivers spun out during the test, according to Suarez “because the falloff was pretty big” after about 10 or 15 laps. Suarez spun in the Carousel.
“With that being said, maybe the cambers were not correct for these tires,” he said. “Maybe the air pressure was not correct for these tires. So I’m pretty sure we’re going to be much better now.”
Suarez wound up 24th in practice, but improved to eighth in qualifying.
For Reddick, it was “two or three times” that he spun at the test, coming out of the Bus Stop and in the Carousel.
“Two confirmed, maybe the third one didn’t happen,” Reddick joked. “I just think you’ll have more opportunities for cars to come and go throughout the run, and that’s gonna open up opportunities to pass.”
Christopher Bell believes the tire falloff could have “a big implication” for the team’s strategy during the 90-lap race, with it being a…
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