Charlotte Motor Speedway used the same Goodyear intermediate setup already seen this season at Las Vegas, Kansas, Darlington, and Texas. Around the garage, drivers simply call it the “Kansas tire.” For Denny Hamlin, that package finally gave the kind of racing he has been asking for since the low-downforce era discussions nearly a decade ago.
“That’s the most challenged I felt on a mile-and-a-half this year,” Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental. “It seems like Goodyear’s gotten to a place with their intermediate tire, which I absolutely love.”
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For years, intermediate races often turned into long fuel runs where everybody could stay aggressive without consequences. Drivers managed fuel. They did not really manage tires. Hamlin repeatedly argued that it was backwards. Now, the current compound changes the entire rhythm of a race.
“What makes this tire so good is that it really won’t last a fuel run,” Hamlin explained. “We could go almost 70 laps on fuel. Tires won’t go that far. Tires could go like 60.”
That 10-lap gap is huge. Once tires start fading before pit stops, drivers cannot just hammer the throttle every lap. They have to protect the right rear, think ahead on corner entry, and balance aggression with patience. Faster cars begin charging late in runs while leaders suddenly become vulnerable in dirty air. Hamlin said that tire falloff is exactly why Charlotte looked so different on long green-flag runs.
“There was one where it was the Christopher Bell one where he was coming on late at the end of the stage,” Hamlin recalled. “I went from third to battling Bell off of turn two for the lead… and I knew at that time, I was like, ‘Man, I bet this is a fun show on TV or in the stands.’”
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The interesting part is that Hamlin has been pushing for this exact philosophy since NASCAR’s 2015 Kentucky experiment with reduced downforce. Even back then, he argued softer compounds would force drivers to manage races instead of simply surviving clean-air battles.
“We’ve made our tires so dummy-proof over the last 10 years that anyone can just abuse them and abuse them with no consequence,” Hamlin said after Kentucky in 2015. “When you abuse a tire, you should not get rewarded for it.”
For a long time, Goodyear, valued at $2.03B, struggled to find the balance. NASCAR wanted more tire wear, but softer compounds often crossed into chaos. The best example was last year at Phoenix, when a softer tire delivered repeated failures and shredded rubber during the championship race. Even then, Hamlin defended the idea behind it.
He argued teams themselves were often the real problem because they constantly pushed below recommended air pressures searching for extra speed.
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“It’s the teams,” Hamlin admitted recently. “We’re just pushing it… We take another tenth or two out of the tire, and that’s when it blows.”
That is partly why Hamlin’s approval carries weight here. He is not blindly defending Goodyear. Few drivers understand tire management better than him because it has been one of the defining strengths of his career.
The clearest example was Bristol in 2024, when Goodyear brought an ultra-aggressive tire that wore down rapidly. Drivers were blowing tires everywhere once cords started showing around 45 laps into a run. Hamlin handled it better than anybody and won the race while others burned their stuff up. Charlotte felt similar stylistically, just cleaner and more sustainable for intermediate tracks.
Goodyear’s current setup also fits NASCAR’s larger push toward standardizing its intermediate package across multiple 1.5-mile tracks. The same tire combination now travels between places, giving teams more data while still producing meaningful falloff.
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And right now, Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR has finally landed in the sweet spot.
“After years and years and years of begging Goodyear to get softer on their compounds,” he said, “they’ve really gotten to a good place where you need tires before you need fuel. And that’s why you’re seeing the racing improve.”
That’s important because intermediate tracks make up a huge chunk of the modern NASCAR schedule. When the tire works there, the entire racing product changes.
The optimism also comes at an important time for him because Hamlin has started sounding more realistic about the final phase of his own career.
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As NASCAR’s Racing Improves, Hamlin Is Quietly Thinking About the Finish Line
Ahead of Darlington, Hamlin admitted he still expects 2027 to be his final full-time Cup season.
“I still assume that the end of ‘27 is it,” Hamlin said, further making it clear that he has no interest in racing once he feels the edge slipping away.
“I just don’t want to go to my last half of the year or year just like, can’t wait to get out.”
That mindset sounds exactly like the driver who has spent years obsessing over tire wear and racecraft. Hamlin has always approached NASCAR analytically, whether he was discussing setups, strategy, or his own future. Even while talking about retirement, he immediately started calculating projected win totals.
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“If you average the last 10 years or something like that, it’s about 3.5 wins a year. That puts me right around that number.”
“That’s assuming that I don’t wake up in 2027 and have a declining skill set.”
And in case fans are expecting a massive farewell celebration whenever the end comes, Hamlin shut that idea down quickly.
“No, no, I’m good on that.”
Honestly, that answer probably sums him up better than anything else. Denny Hamlin never really ran after nostalgia. He’s always been a performance guy. If Denny really does call it a career after 2027, he’ll be walking away with a résumé many would be jealous of.
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