NASCAR News: 3 drivers testing new Goodyear tires at The Glen

Three NASCAR Cup Series drivers – 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.”

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.” More at NASCAR.com