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Phoenix Raceway witnessed a significant number of tire issues during the recent NASCAR Cup Series race, but a closer examination reveals that these were not solely attributable to manufacturing defects. Instead, seasoned industry professionals and crew chiefs point towards the inherent risks associated with aggressive car setups and strategic driver decisions as the primary culprits behind the tire failures.
The delicate balance between maximizing performance and ensuring tire durability is a constant challenge in stock car racing, and this was particularly evident at Phoenix. Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 crew chief, Adam Stevens, articulated this complex dynamic in a recent appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "It’s so tough," Stevens admitted, highlighting a facet of the sport often misunderstood by fans. "We just don’t know the load, air pressure, and camber (combination) with certainty where we’re going to have a problem."
Stevens explained the fundamental conflict: "What we do know is generally the tires make the most grip at higher camber settings and they last the longest at lower air pressure settings. So, those two material facts are polar opposites of working together. The only way to really know where the edge is, unfortunately, is to cross it. You can think you know, but you don’t know until you cross it or somebody else crosses it and you know exactly what they have going on."
This reality forces competitors to operate on a knife’s edge. As a strategist, Stevens stated his approach involves "sneaking up" on the performance limit, hoping that any transgression occurs early enough in the race for his team to manage and recover. "It’s a quirky part of the sport, and I don’t know how to get around it," he said. While teams can analyze tire wear and internal failures during practice sessions, the race environment introduces variables that are difficult to fully replicate.
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"The tires are blowing because they are overloaded for a sustained amount of time," Stevens continued. "That load decreases as the lap times slow down and as the air pressures come up. So, there’s a lot of variables, and the tires are laid up by hand. They’re made by humans, not machines, so there is a variability there. We could maybe practice at the same setup, air pressure, and camber, and not have any problems, and then get in the race and have a problem."
Rudy Fugle, crew chief for William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports entry, echoed Stevens’ sentiments regarding the pursuit of grip through tire pressure and suspension geometry. "The reason we want to go lower [on air pressure] is — for most of the time, especially with this really short sidewall — as the driver leans the car into the corner, that sidewall has a ton of flex, and gives the driver a ton of feel before he goes from spinning out to tight," Fugle explained on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
"He can feel all of that… and make a decision on, ‘Hey, I’m too loose, or I’m too tight, I’m going to pick up the gas and add steering wheel.’ And with this NextGen car, with its shorter sidewall, this tire has way less, so the driver is on edge." Fugle noted that the increased number of abrupt spins seen in the first year of the NextGen car in 2022 was a direct result of drivers adapting to this reduced sidewall flex.
"So, the lower air pressure gives that sidewall way more flex, way more feel," Fugle elaborated. "When you have a tire that digs, the low air pressure generally means it survives way longer, so you make it a 60-lap run, and it just survives a lot longer. So, we want to push down to those limits, and we have gotten to where we kind of have a calculation of trying to know, like air pressure, load, and camber; what we can do."
The physics of tire pressure are also a critical factor. Air pressure within a tire naturally increases as it heats up during a run, regardless of the starting point. However, lower initial air pressure also leads to a larger contact patch, which translates to increased mechanical grip. This is a desirable outcome for performance but inherently stresses the tire more.
Todd Gordon, a longtime crew chief now serving as a broadcast analyst, also highlighted the role of driver execution and tactical choices in tire longevity. Speaking on his own SiriusXM show, Gordon emphasized that drivers have a responsibility to manage the equipment and the chosen race strategy. "At old Auto Club, the fast way around was you turned down across the apron in 3 and 4, and transitioned back up," Gordon recalled. "I had a conversation with Joey [Logano] and told him that I could go lower [on air pressure] if you commit to me that you’re not going to pass anyone on the backstretch for four laps… and where drivers choose to race can impact tire life as well."
Gordon specifically referenced Phoenix’s unique track characteristics, where drivers can utilize a shortcut by driving across the apron. This maneuver, particularly on restarts with cold tires, can induce significant shock loads into the tire structure, accelerating degradation. "So yes, camber is one, air pressure becomes one, how you install, where you choose to be aggressive, how much load you’ve got into the setup, how much it shocks the load," Gordon stated. "And then, how aggressive your driver is. Phoenix is tough on them because everybody wants to bail off and shorten the dogleg on cold tires, first lap at speed. You’re driving across… and I mean, we see sparks and everything else coming out of these cars. It’s a brutal transition both down and back onto the race surface."
The current era of NASCAR racing, characterized by the NextGen car, has seen a deliberate shift away from the extremely durable, albeit less exciting, tires of the past. Goodyear has worked to provide tires that offer more grip and wear, creating a more dynamic racing product. This evolution, however, necessitates a greater degree of responsibility from the teams. As the sport moves towards closer competition and more strategic racing, the acceptance of these inherent risks by crew chiefs and drivers has become a prerequisite. The ability to push the boundaries of car setup and driver aggression for potentially higher rewards has become a defining characteristic of modern NASCAR, and the incidents at Phoenix serve as a stark reminder of the fine line between success and failure.
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