A softer ‘option’ tire provided drivers with short-term grip but degraded a lot quicker, alongside a longer lasting ‘prime’ tyre with less grip.
These tire choices were initially sampled at the All-Star Race which did not produce the expected results, prompting them to trial the changes at Richmond.
Daniel Suarez supports option tire use
One driver who benefitted from this rule change in particular was Daniel Suarez, who won Stage 2 and finished the weekend in P10.
Suarez was one of the first to switch to the softer compound tire, which earned him a playoff point through a clever strategy
“I give a huge credit to NASCAR and to Goodyear for bringing this option tire because it’s a lot of fun. I don’t see why we don’t have an option tire everywhere we go.”
“If you can find somebody here in the racetrack that didn’t like the race, bring them over,” he added.
“Because I don’t think you can find one person. It’s just more fun, you know? You bring more strategy into the table, more passing. It’s fun. As a race car driver, for the team, for the fans, for the (media), it’s a good thing.”
“It was like Mario Kart with a star.
“I guarantee you I had more fun than everyone else.”