Kyle Larson winning at Bristol Motor Speedway isn’t a surprise. It was how he did it that shocked the NASCAR community. Larson’s becoming the undisputed king of the track, a title Kyle Busch held before the Next-Gen era, winning 8 races and even sweeping the weekend on two occasions, 2010 and 2017. Counting the recent win, Larson’s won twice in the Next-Gen era, and he’s got a 2.8 average finish there. Which is massive!
Look, this was the spring Bristol race, and everyone hoped it wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the #5 as it was last fall. But, somehow, the track did not play like last spring when there was extreme tire wear. And Goodyear is not able to find the right balance at Bristol! Kyle Larson has recently spoken about how he’d like Bristol to be!
For the folks who missed last year’s spring race, let us give you a refresher. The race turned into a tire management strategy. And with such high tire fall off, we saw 54 lead changes, with Denny Hamlin eventually taking the win. This even caught Goodyear by surprise. “Yesterday (2024 spring Bristol race) was a drastic departure from what we expected.” This is what Goodyear’s director of racing, Greg Tucker, had said after that race. And many thought the recent race would be like that one. But it wasn’t! It rather raced like the fall one, and if it was up to Kyle Larson, he’d leave Bristol untouched.
Kyle Larson opens up on tire wear at Bristol!
If you recall the fall race from last year, Kyle Larson led 462 out of the 500 laps, and it became a one-man show! The race was heavily criticized; fans bashed Goodyear for a poor tire compound, for not being able to replicate the spring race. And Kyle Larson was the one who jumped to their defense. He had posted on X, writing, “All this tire wear talk about Bristol got me wondering… Have we ever had a lot tire wear at Bristol besides the spring of 24? Eh, not much of any.”
This is true. Even in the race before the 2024 spring one, there wasn’t much tire wear on the track. And the tire code for the 2024 spring race was exactly the same as the 2023 fall race. This led to confusion, as even Goodyear did not know what happened, as they did not change anything. Fast forward to Sunday, Kyle Larson led 411 out of the 500, dominated it throughout, and no one could catch him. There were only 4 lead changes: Alex Bowman led a few since he had the pole start, and Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney led some since they stayed out longer when the field pitted. Otherwise, it was another Kyle Larson show.
Picture this: Denny Hamlin started behind Larson in P4 and ended the race behind him in P2. And Denny’s been great on Bristol. So, if he couldn’t catch Larson for even a single lap, that means the expected tire fall-off wasn’t there. And Larson, in the post-race interview, was asked about his tire wear preference at Bristol. The #5 was very straightforward in the post-race interview: “I’ve led 860-something laps the last two, so um obviously I’m going to be biased to this. I just think it’s more fun. Like we’re still out there managing, you know, our runs. So I don’t know. Last year was a very excessive. I mean, we were running maybe 50% throughout a run, and that was too much. But then, you know, today we’re much closer to 100% every lap but, you know, somewhere between 85 to 90%, you know, trying to still manage everything.”
According to Larson, even without massive tire wear, teams still need a tire management strategy. “You know, like me in the lead—I don’t want to get my stuff too hot to where I catch traffic I can’t pass lappers. So, I think that’s why Denny and I were still able to lap a lot of cars, is because we still did a good job managing our tires. Although it might be a little less wear, it’s still a lot more temp-related that you’re managing.” But still, it was nothing like that 2024 spring race, where the tire wore out in just 50 laps. Whereas in the recent race, they were good for at least a hundred. That’s a massive difference, and it led to more than half the field being a lap down by the end of the race!
Also, Kyle Larson wants the tires to be slicker. “I would obviously love it if it could still—like the tire could lay more rubber and the pace would—you know, the track would get slicker. Like with Xfinity, it gets really black, and when it gets black, it’s just a greasy feeling, and the pace slows down.” This is almost how the track was during the practice on Saturday, which was after the Xfinity race. The track was warm, and the tires wore off within 40 laps during practice. However, the cooler temperature on Sunday bamboozled everyone preparing for a tire-management race.
Overall, Larson’s good with how it currently is. Why wouldn’t he be, since he’s winning it? But Hamlin’s got a problem with it, and he’s been vocal about it recently.
Denny Hamlin opens up on the Bristol problem
Hamlin had a fast car, but he could not lead a single lap as it was impossible to catch the leader. According to Hamlin, there are multiple factors in this. First is the parity in the Next-Gen car. It being a spec car, all drivers have the same car, and it’s incredibly tough to pass in that case, as only tires and pit stops can play a major role in it. “It was hard. I mean the pace; everyone’s running similar speeds. It’s kind of gonna be a repeat of what we said the last few weeks. The field is migrating closer and closer together. Lap traffic is kind of the equalizer.”
And it’s not completely the tire’s fault. Even Larson had spoken about this after the 2024 fall race. “I don’t have the answer to fix what we currently have, and neither do you, but please stop blaming Goodyear. It’s not a tire problem.” What the #5 driver is talking about is that because of the car, passing is always difficult in Bristol, other than the miraculous 2024 spring race. And not just in the Next-Gen. Even before that, Kyle Busch won several races with 300+ laps led. And if it’s a car problem, NASCAR should do something about it. But there’s no work on that front currently.
Remember, we had drivers criticize the short track package last year? It’s the same rant this year, too. What NASCAR is doing is trying to manage the problem but experimenting with Goodyear’s tire compounds. But Hamlin’s point is that even that isn’t being done properly. “I don’t see Goodyear having enough nerve to soften the tire. I think if it’s over 70 degrees, absolutely. You could come with something more aggressive. And some, that’s faster than slower. Then maybe you get some comers and goers. It’s just the tough balance to have right now.”
Folks, what did you think of the race? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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