For the first time, Denny Hamlin left a NASCAR race with praise instead of frustration. Unlike the prior events, Saturday’s 400-lap feature delivered the kind of short-track action that once defined the sport.
While the Next-Gen hardware still showed its niggles, the organization’s long-time tire partner flipped the script with a tire that wore out dramatically, producing nearly 83% fallout. This forced the pack to use speed, strategy, and smarts to outgun their rivals, resulting in an exhilarating race, packed with passes, lead changes, and relentless battles.
Reflecting on the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing ace commended Goodyear for rekindling the spark and restoring the excitement that fans had long craved.
Denny Hamlin Lauds Goodyear, Credits the Manufacturer for Richmond Turnaround
Before road courses became a fixture on the NASCAR calendar, short tracks were the crown jewel events besides the superspeedway features, drawing massive crowds eager for bumper-to-bumper, close-quarters action. But with the arrival of the Gen 7/Next Gen car, that brand of racing, especially the art of passing, has taken a noticeable step back.
Since then, racing aficionados, including Hamlin, have voiced their displeasure. Things weren’t exactly different this season, either. Michigan, Indianapolis, Iowa, and Dover all saw race winners emerge solely through pit strategy. This translated to dull races, but the Cook Out 400 Richmond stood out.
“Thank you, Goodyear, for bringing a tire that had over 2 to 2 1/2 seconds of fall-off. That’s great,” Hamlin said, relaying his sincere appreciation for the $2.4 billion worth tire manufacturer.
“Deserving, very, very deserving in that… Richmond was kind of one of the very first short tracks that was getting the “oh man, this is kind of boring” type of feel, right? And, like, it’s good to see that. Like, OK, yeah, the tires do matter, right?”
The JGR ace spoke at length: “Everyone’s got a lot of grip because the tires got a lot of grip, and then all of a sudden people start passing. It’s like that’s what we wanted to see. And so that puts it back into the driver’s hands. And hopefully, this is something that will be our loud and tire as well.”
“So something to look forward to there. It looks, it seems like they’re trying to make this our standard short track tire because I believe it is the same as Martinsville now Richmond, I’m sure there’s another in there, but. We’ve softened up the tires. It’s a really good thing,” he added.
According to the 44-year-old, the tire fallout gives the driver back control over the race. Although Hamlin didn’t leave the 0.75-mile with the trophy, the Richmond fallout gave the veteran a new ray of hope in what otherwise could become a challenging year.
