Denny Hamlin Holds Goodyear Accountable for Bristol Tiregate After NASCAR’s ’Biggest Teaching Moment’

Unnatural tire wear at this year’s Bristol spring race dominated the headlines, drowning out the cheers for Denny Hamlin’s 52nd Cup Series victory. Goodyear’s switch from the synthetic PJ1 compound to resin in Bristol’s own return to concrete was one of the highlights coming into this race week. Many drivers faced issues with “tire management,” from the likes of P2 qualifier and SHR rookie Josh Berry to two-time Cup champ Joey Logano for Team Penske.

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All that mattered, in the end, was veteran composure as the #11 car brought home Coach Gibbs’ 210th victory as car owner in the Cup Series. Additionally, it marked Hamlin’s second consecutive victory at “The Last Great Colosseum” on the much-discussed concrete. A landmark Bristol race has gone down in NASCAR history with 54 lead changes amongst 16 drivers on a short track, but the tire debacle has emerged as the primary topic of negative connotations as Denny Hamlin himself talked about on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental.

“Someone P**d” in The Compound, Goodyear Should “Open Up” Says HamlinADVERTISEMENT

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After his P3 qualifying run on Saturday, Hamlin had some interesting comments for FS1 regarding the new “compound mixture” on debut at Bristol: I think someone p*e-p*ed in the Goodyear rubber mixture I’m not really sure, but it’s definitely really different…”

His podcast partner, Jared Allen brought up this exact sentiment after Hamlin’s first win of the season, which now effectively locks him in for the playoffs battle. The #11 explained himself with careful precision, “There’s just no grip down there, and that’s why we are just so much slower, is that we don’t have PJ1 this time. But, everyone thought, ‘Hey once we get all the cars out there, get some heat going, we’re going to rubber in the track, It’s going to get better.’ And it just never rubbered in.”

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A two-decade-plus veteran in the sport and often a bridge between the vibrant NASCAR community and its glorious sanctioning body, Hamlin then had some choice words for the good people over at Goodyear.

“I have this plea to whoever was responsible for the mixture of the Goodyear tires. Don’t try to cover it up. Whoever’s in charge at Goodyear needs to go and say ‘Okay, we’re not firing anyone, we just want to know what happened.’ Because I believe this could be the biggest teaching moment in the history of NASCAR.”

Denny elaborated on the fact that many different materials go into the compound used for these new tires, and he was one of those present for its inaugural testing in Texas last year. Hence, he detailed his own observations as he stated, “Now they told me at the Texas tire test. ‘There’s something we can put in it that can accelerate the tire wear’… “

That was his anchor as the 3-time Daytona 500 winner ironically declared, “Somebody knocked over that bottle into the mixture.” Hamlin continued, “But you got to get somebody there to admit, or maybe it was just an accident, I don’t know. But we need to find out what’s different from that tire in the fall to that tire today?” Denny Hamlin then finally clarified on original statements to FS1 quelling his co-host’s intrigue: “We didn’t run any of last year’s tires, right? Those tires were used up and gone… Goodyear made a new batch… for this Bristol race. But when they made this mixture someone p*ed in it.”

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The conversations ensued as Hamlin explained that it was indeed a “euphemism”, explaining how the “tire and rubber company” from Akron, Ohio had “accidentally “put too much of something in there that they were not supposed to,” and this was indeed what Hamlin was talking about. Allen then progressed the discussion to the fact that Joey Logano had reportedly used the same tire code just a little, quote: older.’” from last year’s Night Race, at some point during the Food City 500 on the #22 Ford.

Denny was “befuddled” at this disclosure and he continued to take back his previous sentiments, stating, “If that is the case then it’s a track temperature issue, I did see that the outside temperature of the last two Bristol races was 70 degrees because they were all Night Races.”

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Goodyear’s tire chief, Greg Stucker had brushed that notion off already on Sunday when he told the media how the Truck Race had rolled panned out as expected and faced minimal problems due to the “cords” coming out. The mystery ensues, but with COTA next week, we might have to hit pause, as the twists and turns at Austin may provide even newer topics of discussion for NASCAR to evolve on, as always.