NASCAR fully enters wet-weather tire era as drivers, officials deem Loudon completion successful

LOUDON, N.H. — Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway wasn’t the first “official” use of wet-weather tires by NASCAR, but it sure felt like the one that helped usher the sport through the threshold to the next era of stock-car racing.

Battling pop-up rain showers nearly all day — followed by thunderstorms, lightning and the faint threat of a tornado watch to the south later in the afternoon and evening — the hurdles standing between NASCAR and a complete race were aplenty.

Thanks to the teams’ ability to implement Goodyear’s wet-weather product with NASCAR’s direction, the race saw all 301 laps completed — and then some.

A nearly two-hour delay in the final stage with the “Magic Mile” getting absolutely pelted with downpours for most of that window would’ve typically made it an easy call for NASCAR to wave off the remainder of the race with driver and fan safety and coming darkness in mind after needing to dry the track. Instead, drivers were able to re-fire engines at 6:43 p.m. ET and run all the way to the finish on wet-weather tires, with Christopher Bell — who got a little bit of experience on them in Saturday’s Xfinity Series win as well — emerging victorious for the weekend sweep just after 8:10 p.m. ET.

“Oh, we would have (had to call the race if we didn’t have wet-weather tires). We’d have been done with 82 laps ago,” said NASCAR SVP of Competition Elton Sawyer. “It gave us an opportunity to get back green. You know, we were up against it with daylight as well, but kudos to our teams, our drivers, our owners, and especially Mr. (Jim) France for his vision. …

“I think the way we started this whole wet-weather-tire-process was basically we wanted to get our races started on time. And it really played into our hand yesterday to get the Xfinity race started on time and to get our races back to green as quick as possible if we’ve had a delay, which we had today, so you know, kudos to Goodyear. Again, this was Jim France’s vision of what wet-weather tires could do. We ran 301-plus laps today. Went into the overtime. Our fans that bought a ticket, they got to see some great, exciting racing. And there’s still some things that we’re learning through this process and in all honesty, we’d like to be out of the tire business. We’d like to just turn that over to the teams. But as we continue to take small steps and learn, eventually, we’ll get there. We just want to do this in the safest way possible.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

NASCAR’s foray into wet-weather racing on ovals was an ambitious one; while road-course and street racing lend themselves quite well to racing in the wet, it’s basically unheard of otherwise. Thus, there was some industry skepticism that it could be accomplished successfully — skepticism that was quickly quashed once the race went back to green and produced truly mesmerizing racing.

“I was probably the biggest skeptic when they said they wanted to run wets at the at the ovals. I thought they were crazy, and they proved me wrong for sure,” said race-winning crew chief Adam Stevens. “They did a really good job of coming up with a plan methodically of how wet was too wet … and they figured out once they got the water off the race track that you can run it, and that was probably the best way to dry the track, too. So those are all boxes I never thought we would have checked from the way that that whole project started out but kudos to them for for being visionaries in that regard. And Mr. France for pushing the limits. I don’t think there was probably a lot of support for that. But as we narrow down what works, it’s pretty clear today that it worked.”

Once racing resumed, NHMS saw the track widen out massively, with drivers going four, five, sometimes six-wide searching for preferred grooves that fit both their own personal comfortability but also their car’s.

The top 10 was littered with drivers who come from a dirt background seeking the wet, with drivers used to pavement angling for any dry spots they could find.

“It was fun. You know, I think when it’s like that, I think that’s why you see a lot of the dirt racers kind of migrate to the front,” said fourth-place finisher Kyle Larson. “I just think we know what to look for. We know what to feel for, even though it’s pavement, you know, you’re still kind of looking and scanning. That’s why you see (Tyler) Reddick up front. Bell, myself, (Chase) Briscoe. … Props to the pavement guys who figured it out quick, too. I wish the conditions would’ve stayed wet because that was a lot of fun. (Ryan) Blaney was up there too. I mean, he’s not a dirt guy but he’s got he’s got the genetics. So, no surprise that he’s he’s up there too. So yeah, that was fun. Just wish it would stay wet longer. … I do (consider this a success).”

It was so interesting to hear the different feedback based on different backgrounds from drivers in their immediate feedback after the race. While Larson and non-dirt driver Chris Buescher didn’t agree on how to best get around the track once the tires were on, there was one thing they did agree on.

“Oh, ultimately, yeah (it was a success). I mean, we’ve finished our race. I think it worked,” said the No. 17 RFK Racing driver. “It’s dark. It was hard to see there at the end, just where moisture was and wasn’t, but ultimately, it worked out. I certainly would have loved to have done it when it first started in damp conditions; I think when we first went under red those conditions seemed a little more ideal to me with just that really light mist. They actually kept moisture in the track for a long period of time to where I think you would have seen the tire shine more in those conditions versus you know, all these cautions at the end, and us having to put three sets on to make sure that they weren’t blistering or really just peeling, but it worked.”

All in all, a bellwether (pun extremely intended) day for the sport, with plenty of takeaways as NASCAR continues to build the notebook for the continued evolution of racing in the damp. NASCAR will look at everything — from both races this weekend — and use the data and feedback collected to further improve on an already successful experiment.

“Once we get back to the R&D Center, we’ll start downloading exactly how this race unfolded,” Sawyer said. “If you think about it, you know, we’ve only got maybe four data points. We ran the trucks in Martinsville, the All-Star Race with the Cup cars, this year at Richmond with the Cup cars, and now here, which is one of the faster short ovals that we run on. So we’ll get back and we’ll look at all the things that transpired today and if we should have put on dries, but the more we looked at it, I think staying on wets was the right decision to end the race.

“Absolutely (this was a success). I mean, if you go back and look at the reason we came up with this, and we started working through it with our teams and the folks that the R&D Center, it was to do exactly what we did yesterday with the Xfinity race and what we did today with the Cup race. So yes, very successful.”