NASCAR’s New Tire to Make 2025 Debut at Phoenix Raceway
What’s Happening? NASCAR is bringing back the “option” tire for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season. The tire, which debuted at…
This week, NASCAR announced that Goodyear’s “Option” tire will return in 2025. The tire’s first race will be a test to see how it acts at one specific track. If the results are to NASCAR’s liking, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race will have a major change month before the green flag even drops.
On Wednesday, NASCAR announced they will use the option tire at Phoenix Raceway for the first time. The tire, which debuted at North Wilkesboro last season, is softer, allowing more grip and more passing, but falls off at a faster rate than the traditional primary tire.
The tire last appeared at the Championship Four cutoff race at Martinsville as the right-side tire, with an even softer left-side tire used that evening. These soft tires were the only ones used at the race and were deemed successful in their performance.
However, for its 2025 debut, NASCAR will use the same system they used in the tire’s first points race at Richmond last fall. At Phoenix, much like last year’s Richmond race, teams will have six primary tire sets to use during the race alongside two sets of option tires.
What’s Happening? NASCAR is bringing back the “option” tire for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season. The tire, which debuted at…
The option tire is a complementary assist to the Next Gen Car’s struggling performance on short tracks. The idea is that softer tires, due to their faster wear, allow for more strategy and, due to their speed, more passing opportunities.
While they did not shine in their debut at the North Wilkesboro All-Star Race, their partial introduction at Richmond was deemed a success by fans. This change in opinion is perhaps due to Richmond’s older surface compared to the newly repaved Wilkesboro.
With their success at Richmond, fans and drivers debated using the tires at the similar short track in Phoenix, which hosts the Championship Race. Some drivers claimed that using the combination of option and primary at Phoenix would be too chaotic and distract from the championship race’s importance.
Since moving the Championship Race to Phoenix and introducing the Next Gen Car, fans have been openly frustrated with the Championship race on-track product.
While NASCAR opted not to use the Option tire at the 2024 Championship Race, a clear plan is in place for its partial introduction to the track this March. If the tire creates the action NASCAR and Goodyear want when used at Phoenix, NASCAR will make it the primary tire for the 2025 Championship Race.
This result would mean that pit or stage racing strategy could determine the race and, ultimately, the Championship this season. Furthermore, those drivers in the Championship four who are more experienced at slowing down tire fall-off could have an advantage with everything on the line.
When NASCAR rolls into Phoneix on Mar. 9, tires will be one storyline you won’t want to miss.
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