NASCAR News: Option tire to be used at spring Phoenix race

NASCAR announced Wednesday that the option tire will return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the spring weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

It will be the same process that was utilized for the summer race at Richmond Raceway last year where each Cup Series team was given six primary sets of tires for the race and two sets of option tires.

The goal of the softer tire is to increase grip, which can provide more pace to the car. The trade-off, however, is that it is designed to wear significantly faster than the primary tire, so while a driver may gain track position in a short amount of time, they could lose it on a long run and have to pit sooner for fresh tires.

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A NASCAR spokesperson said that if the option tire works well during the spring Phoenix race, it would become the primary tire for the championship race at Phoenix in November. There would be no option tire for the championship race.