NASCAR announced on Jan. 22 that the Goodyear option tire will return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the spring weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
It will be the same process that was utilized for the summer race at Richmond Raceway last year where each Cup Series team was given six primary sets of tires for the race and two sets of option tires.
The goal of the option tire is to increase grip, which can provide more pace to the car. The trade-off, however, is that it is designed to wear significantly faster than the primary tire, so while a driver may gain track position in a short amount of time, they could lose it on a long run and have to pit sooner for fresh tires.
“Phoenix has been an important track, with it being the site of championship weekend for the past several years,” Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of global race tires, said in a press release. “This weekend we continue with the development of the short-track package for the Cup Series, and we will have an option tire as part of the racing. We quite successfully ran an option twice last season so we now get a look at it on a racy, 1-mile track. Cup teams will have two sets of options for the race so we’ll see, like at the second Richmond race last season, how teams will deploy them to best maximize their strategy.”
The option tire made its debut at North Wilkesboro Speedway in last year’s edition of the All-Star Race before NASCAR competition officials used the allotment for a points-paying event.
The use of the option tire shook up pit strategy at Richmond, with drivers like Daniel Suárez reaping the benefits to lead 93 laps and turn in a top-10 result.
A NASCAR spokesperson said that if the option tire works well during the spring Phoenix race, it would become the primary tire for the championship race at Phoenix in November. There would be no option tire for the championship race.
“For the better of the sport, I think what we’ve been doing with the tires has been a really big gain lately,” three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano said. “Last week [at Circuit of The Americas], you see a lot of falloff which was great and the way we’re introducing it is a pretty safe way to do it. I think it’s cool.”
Wet-weather tires will also be deployed at Phoenix in case of inclement weather this weekend. Teams will be allotted four sets of wet-weather tires for the event.
Drivers will have one primary set of tires and one option set for practice at Phoenix ahead of the Shriners Children’s 500 on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The extended 45-minute practice session is set for 2:05 p.m. Saturday on Prime Video.
Following Sunday’s race, Goodyear will hold a tire test on Monday with Austin Dillon (Chevrolet), Josh Berry (Ford) and Tyler Reddick (Toyota) participating as their OEM representatives.
Heck yeah, the MAGA crowd will love it.