April Texas NASCAR races will get new tires, but no chance to test them
Because of a time crunch, Goodyear Tire officials said Friday they will not be able to conduct a tire test on the Texas Motor Speedway surface which will be repaved in the coming weeks.
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Action Sports Photography
Earlier Friday, TMS announced a major capital project would begin next week that included a repave of its racing surface, construction of a new drainage system and change to the banking of the track.
The work is expected to be completed before TMS’ April NASCAR race weekend, but that doesn’t leave any time for Goodyear to conduct a test on the new surface and build a tire specific to its characteristics.
“There is no question Goodyear will have to bring a new tire set-up for the NASCAR weekend scheduled there in April,” Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing, said in a statement.
“Because of the tight schedule, we will not have time to do a tire test at Texas, so we will look at the details of the new configuration and understand the asphalt mix that will be used, which is planned to be similar to what was used most recently at Kentucky.
“That being said, this project will take on a similar feel to the one at Kentucky because that was also both a repave and reconfiguration.”
Stucker said Goodyear will come up with a tire set-up choice well in advance of the race weekend, hoping to give teams plenty of time to prepare.
NASCAR officials said it is possible Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series teams could receive extra track time on the race weekend because of the repave and reconfiguration.
The track’s April weekend schedule has not yet been finalized, however.
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