Goodyear tire test at Watkins Glen features unique tire combos, driver spins

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y — Three of the premier road-course competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series — Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez and Austin Cindric — took to the historic twists and turns of Watkins Glen International on Wednesday as part of a two-day Goodyear tire test.

The goal of the test is to find the perfect tire setup when NASCAR returns to the famed road course in September for the facility’s first playoff race. Unlike the 2023 season, Goodyear is trying different tire combinations at road-course events in 2024. The tire combination change began earlier this month at Sonoma Raceway. The freshly repaved track had a different tire combination than the previous road-course tire that last ran at Circuit of The Americas in late March.

Goodyear provided the teams with six different tire compounds to complete seven-lap runs. Two of the compounds were used in races at COTA and Sonoma earlier this season, and Goodyear also brought four developmental compounds to the track.

“I had a least favorite; I didn‘t have a favorite,” Cindric said of the tires during the test. “I came in after four laps when I was supposed to do eight.”

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Both Reddick and Suárez looped around during the seven-hour session that got cut one hour short because of rain.

One change to the 11-turn course that caused a challenge was the elimination of the curbing entering the inner loop. The force took a toll on drivers‘ bodies last season, so NASCAR elected to get rid of the additional curbing. Drivers wore mouthpiece sensors and ear accelerometers to collect numbers from the impact during the test.

“It‘s definitely a lot better in the car,” Cindric said of the entry to the inner loop. “There was quite a big ramp, quite high speed. The cars can still take it, but the fleshy body of water inside the car struggles with that. I don‘t think it‘s going to affect the racing a whole lot, but it‘s way better inside the car.”

The inner loop was also the location of one of Reddick‘s spins.

“I had a fun day,” Reddick said with a conspicuous laugh. “I somehow kept my car in one piece, but I spun out a lot and tried to hit a lot of things. Today was a handful for us.”

All three drivers believe they will provide better feedback following Thursday‘s session, which will feature 20-lap runs. With a longer run on each set of tires, it will give Goodyear more data points to lean in one direction.

“I do think [Thursday] is going to be more productive with the longer runs,” Suárez said. “There is only so much you can learn with six to eight laps. This was good. It‘s always fun to come back here to Watkins Glen. The bus stop is quite different, so we‘re learning on that. We were able to make a couple of adjustments in the bus stop, maybe in Turn 1. I think we‘re making progress.”

With limited track time throughout race weekends, all three playoff drivers are going to take advantage of the additional laps at Watkins Glen. That has paid off in recent months with Joey Logano leading 199 of 200 laps in last month‘s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway after participating in a Goodyear test there earlier this season.

And the fact that Watkins Glen is a playoff track makes the added track time that much more important.

“I think it‘s important for the series, but it‘s a great opportunity for all three of us,” Cindric said. “This is a playoff track, all three of us are locked into the playoffs. I would be lying if I told you it wasn‘t valuable to just get laps out here and give us an opportunity to have an idea of what to expect. We will try to maximize that opportunity, but at the same time provide the right feedback to Goodyear.”

By spinning twice during the opening day of the test, Reddick didn‘t get a great read for when the series will return in September.

“Track time is important, which is what I think made today frustrating for us,” Reddick said. “We‘ve had a number of issues that have kept us off track, and when we‘ve been on track, we‘ve spun and not gotten full tire runs in.

“I‘m hoping tomorrow that I can learn more, our team can learn more, but the main part of this entire test is to try and help Goodyear figure out what the path is to put a tire together that isn‘t going to be soft or go too drastic one way or another on balance but have more fall off.”

Xfinity Series drivers Jesse Love and Ryan Sieg participated in the test as well, and John Hunter Nemechek piloted a Sam Hunt Racing entry. The series‘ session was cut even shorter than the Cup Series‘ when Love wrecked early in the afternoon.