The NASCAR schedule this weekend delivers some great racing at Darlington Raceway, but no race is drawing more buzz than the Goodyear 400. Of particular interest is the tire wear, which some drivers have indicated could lead to chaos on Sunday afternoon.
On the latest episode of Gluckcast, Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. shed some light on how many tires the teams will realistically have each stage and the importance strategy will have on Sunday.
“We don’t have enough tires to stop three times in each stage. We will have enough tires if you stop twice in each first stage and two or three times in the last stage, that’s with no caution. With Darlington, it seems like you get that random caution at, like, lap 4 to 8. If it falls in there, if it’s lap 4. 70 percent of the cars will stay out, 30 percent will pit. If you’re one of the last ones to stay out, you generally go a lap down. But if you pit, you use another set of tires.”
NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on tire management, strategy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway
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To Stenhouse’s point, look at what happened a year ago on the same track. Last spring in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington, the caution came out on Lap 4 after Kyle Larson got loose on the previous lap. The No. 5 car snapped sideways entering the backstretch and slammed head-on into the inside wall.
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Now, NASCAR is bringing a horsepower increase (750 output) to Darlington for the short-track package. Furthermore, as NASCAR.com describes, there’s now a 3-inch rear spoiler and fewer stabilizers on the rear diffuser. The hope is that the horsepower increase will combine with reduced “aerodynamic stability” to create a bigger challenge for the drivers and a more entertaining race involving strategy that really tests just how good some teams and drivers are.
Related: NASCAR Odds Darlington, 4 Picks for Goodyear 400
On a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin predicted that the Goodyear 400 will be a “wild card race.” He believes that there will be four seconds of falloff, and potentially more, as the new aerodynamic package and increased horsepower take a toll on the tires.
Days later, fellow Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe told Jeff Gluck of The Athletic on the Gluckcast that he thinks the Goodyear 400 will be out of control.
“It’s going to be out of control. It’s going to be, I think, the hardest track that we run on all year long. The biggest thing is just taking the diffuser and everything off. I mean, I’ve run the sim now for probably a week and a half and you are crashing every corner, every lap. Even new tires, it is out of control…Literally the whole weekend is going to be must-see.”
Chase Briscoe on what to expect in Sunday’s NASCAR race at Darlington
Related: NASCAR Power Rankings Ahead of Darlington Raceway
The rough track surface at Darlington Raceway and its layout will cause problems for teams as they operate with higher horsepower and reduced aerodynamic stability.
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NASCAR has announced that Cup Series teams will be given 12 sets of Goodyear tires this weekend: 10 sets for the Goodyear 400, one for practice, and one for Saturday’s qualifying.
Just keep in mind that there were 8 cautions in the spring race at Darlington last year, with the race going into overtime and lasting 297 laps (405.7 miles), taking a total of 3 hours and 21 minutes. It certainly seems like we’ll be seeing even more chaos this weekend.
Read More: NASCAR Cup Series Stage Winners, Stats Tracker
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