Jeff Burton: Bristol tire wear was ‘too much, but a step in the right direction’

Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was a war of attrition for 500 laps, a race decided by who could manage their Goodyear tires the best.

With resin applied to the racetrack as opposed to PJ1 and Goodyear looking to create a tire that would wear, the combination resulted in the concrete Bristol surface eating up tires at an alarming rate. So much so, NASCAR authorized Goodyear to pass out an additional set of tires during the race to each team. In the end, it was Denny Hamlin who came out the victor, leading a race-high 163 laps.

While a tire management race was welcome to many in the sport, some feel that the amount of tire wear went too far. Former NASCAR driver and current NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton said Monday that while Sunday’s race was a “step in the right direction,” the tire wear on display was “excessive.”

“The weather conditions were very similar to the fall race from last year,” Burton said. “The big difference is that resin was applied to the racetrack rather than PJ1. That’s nothing new, resin has replaced PJ1 everywhere, so why this result? I have no idea. It’s very unique. You know, Goodyear’s been working very hard to create a tire that would wear a great deal more. Certainly, we saw that, but understanding the secret in the sauce is understanding from moving forward, is understanding what happened. Those marbles right there, that’s something we’ve not been seeing. And why didn’t the top come in this time? [It’s] because those marbles were there, coming off of the tires.

“Clearly, the tire wear was excessive, it was too much, but even though it was too much it was a step in the right direction. Nobody wants to see tire failures to this point but at the same token, when you’re pushing the issue, when you’re on the edge of things, sometimes you cross over it. I think Goodyear, Bristol, NASCAR — honestly it should be applauded that we got over the edge, now it’s about understanding how we got to the edge and then backing it up some. Not only for Bristol, but every other short track race. That’s really what has to happen going forward here. And if we can figure that out, then it will certainly have a positive impact on short track racing.”

Goodyear to investigate ‘drastic’ tire wear at Bristol Motor Speedway

Understanding what led to the drastic change is exactly what Goodyear director of racing Greg Stucker is hoping to find out. Stucker spoke to the media during the race and agreed with Burton’s assessment that the tire wear was “too drastic.”

“I would agree [that] tire wear is always the goal. That’s what people wanted to see. It creates comers and goers and who manages tires the best. But we thought we were in a really good spot last year with the tire as we raced it in the fall, and something is different now. So, this is too drastic,” Stucker said. “We tested here last year with the intent to come up with a tire package that generated more tire wear. That was the request from NASCAR and the teams.

“We feel like we had a very successful test. Feel like we had a very successful race in the fall of last year because we did exactly that. We ran a full fuel stop [and] definitely saw wear, but we thought it was spot on. So, now we’re trying to understand what’s different. Why is the racetrack behaving differently this weekend than what it did a year ago?”