Drivers participate in tire test at Watkins Glen Wednesday

06/27/2024 06:16 AM

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.

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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.

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.

— NASCAR.com —