“Goodyear is in a tough situation” – Chase Elliott slams all Nascar teams for hurting tire sales due to failures

An evolution of Generation 6, NASCAR’s Next-Gen car debuted last season. Since then, the Next-Gen car has been a hotly debated topic in the NASCAR community. Based on the cars that race in the Australian Supercar series, the Gen-6 Evolution introduces minor modifications for better performance. While most drivers criticized the 18-inch wheels and lack of interior liners, Chase Elliott felt the opposite.

Although it excels on NASCAR ovals, one area where the Next-Gen car has struggled is with its Goodyear tires. Faced with multiple tire failures on the track last season, NASCAR teams banded together, collectively pointing the finger at the tire giant. By changing its set of tires, Goodyear conducted a specific tire test in New Hampshire in April 2023. Having participated in the Goodyear tire test, Chase Elliott called out NASCAR teams for blaming Goodyear for their failure.

Chase Elliott sides with Goodyear, calls out NASCAR teams

Always the target of team criticism, Goodyear’s final years in NASCAR were not particularly “good.” For years, NASCAR teams ignored the manufacturer’s optimal tire pressure specifications, often exceeding the recommended psi. Masking their negligence after multiple failures, several teams presented the multinational manufacturer as the ultimate “fall guy”. Earlier this year, Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 driver Chase Elliott participated in the Goodyear tire test. He was genuinely surprised at the progress NASCAR could make by experimenting with different tire compounds.

Applauding Goodyear for its initiative, Elliott said: “I thought we made a lot of progress on the tire during this test and it opened my eyes to how much we can do with the tire compound alone and that really surprised me. For a long time, and I still feel like Goodyear is in a tough spot because they feel like if the tires fail it could hurt their sales on Monday.»

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Calling out NASCAR teams for hurting tire sales, Elliott added: “But (they) need to make a tire a little closer to the edge than what they (have given us) in the past. That puts some responsibility on the teams to respect those guidelines, the habitable zone of the tires, and that has to be on the teams.»

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This is not the first time that Elliott has defended the tire giant.

Amid Denny Hamlin’s Goodyear rant, No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro driver comes to NASCAR’s rescue

Following the tire debacle at last season’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 race, Denis Hamlin was unhappy with the performance of the tired Goodyear. Criticizing the manufacturer for its substandard product, Hamlin wrote in a tweet: “If you think maybe NASCAR will go to someone else for tires, keep dreaming. GY pays them a big check so they are allowed to rip off teams every week.

Chase Elliott was one of the drivers who succumbed to failed tires in Texas, but he felt it was NASCAR that put the tire manufacturer in a critical position. Taking the blame Goodyear, he says, “I’m not sure Goodyear is at fault. Goodyear always takes the black eye, but NASCAR puts them in a very difficult position to build a tire that can survive these types of tracks with this car. I wouldn’t blame Goodyear.”

Always shying away from criticism, Goodyear is improving its tire set and experimenting with different compounds will surely help drivers extract a lot more performance from the Next-Gen cars.