Amidst all the fan joy that a tyre management race is finally back at Bristol and more are needed, I had a contrary thought as I looked ahead to September.
The Bristol night race is a single-elimination race, following two wild-card first-round races at Atlanta and Watkins Glen. What would fans say if their favorite driver went to Bristol needing points or to hold onto his position to qualify for the playoffs and then got eliminated due to a flat tire?
Sunday’s race was more of a surprising case of roulette than tyre management as drivers didn’t pit because the tyre loss was so great that they could go faster with new tyres. They went as fast as they thought they could, expecting (hoping?) that another driver would get a puncture and trigger the caution.
So I asked the Hendrick drivers on Tuesday afternoon while I was in the garage whether they would be willing to do this type of event for an elimination race, and they seemed to be pretty much on board with it – as long as they knew in advance that they had to manage the tires.
“Look in the mirror: You did it yourself,” Chase Elliott said. “That’s the way I look at it. As long as you know it’s going to happen. That’s the most important thing. You have to know what you have to work with.”
“If we know this is the environment we’re going to come back to, we adapt to it. We solve a lot of longevity issues ourselves.”
Elliott stressed that the tires did not catastrophically fail without warning on Sunday. A driver would have at least a few laps to get to the pit lane. In fact, drivers stayed on the track knowing their tires were about to go flat in the hopes that another driver would trigger the caution.
“It’s much more in the driver’s control than in a normal week,” said Alex Bowman. “A normal race at Bristol where you do 500 laps flat out as fast as you can – if your car is good, you’re good; and if your car isn’t, you struggle.
“If you make perfect stops, everything is fine. If you make a bad stop, it’s almost impossible to come back from there (with tires that don’t wear out).”
William Byron seemed particularly concerned by the scenario I have just described.
“The regular season is one thing, having races that don’t go as planned is exciting and entertaining,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s fair to the competitors and the teams to not know what you’re getting into.”
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The comments weren’t what I expected – I thought the idea of another possible roll of the dice in the first round, especially for an elimination race, might worry them.
It got me thinking that Goodyear and NASCAR inadvertently found something that could perhaps be improved for a great and exciting race at Bristol. Even one that could eliminate your favorite driver.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @Bobpockrass.
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