It seems like the NASCAR Cup Series was saved by their use of wet weather tires at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Mother Nature didn’t want to see NASCAR finish the USA Today 301 in Loudon, but Goodyear allowed the best racers in America to get the job done. That led to a lot of praise for the sport’s decision-makers in general, and NASCAR SVP of Competition Elton Sawyer faced the media afterwards.
Speaking with FOX’s Bob Pockrass following a successful event, Sawyer explained that without the wet weather tires making it possible to get back on the track, the race would’ve been called with 82 laps to go, when the red flag came out for rain.
“Oh, we would’ve,” Sawyer responded, revealing NASCAR would’ve called the race if not for the wet weather tires. “We would’ve been done with 82 laps to go. Again, it gave us an opportunity to get back green. We knew we were up against it, with daylight as well. But kudos to our teams, our drivers, our owners and especially Mr. [Jim] France, for his vision.”
That really puts it all into perspective, as the action we saw following the rain delay was certainly worth it. Continuing, Sawyer explained how the process went down with wet weather tires, and what NASCAR learned following the USA Today 301 in Loudon.
“Well, I think the way we started this whole wet weather tire process was basically, we wanted to get our races started on time, and it really played into our hand (Saturday), to get the Xfinity Series race started on time, and to get our races back to green as quick as possible if we’ve had a delay, which we had (Sunday),” Sawyer elaborated. “So kudos to Goodyear. Again, this was Jim France’s vision, of what wet weather tires could do. We ran 301-plus laps today, because it went into the overtime. Our fans that bought a ticket, they got to see some great, exciting racing.
“There’s still some things that we’re learning throughout this process, and in all honesty, we’d like to be out of the tire business. We’d like to just turn that over to the teams. But as we continue to take small steps and we learn, eventually we’ll get there. We just want to do this in the safest way possible.”
Moreover, the race began around 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, and lasted six hours due to the two-hour weather delay. Once the rain cleared, the drivers completed on a damp track with rain tires, the second time in NASCAR history a points-paying race used the newly-developed tires. When the race was all said and done, Christopher Bell came away with the victory.
“You never know how this thing is going to shake out whenever you change so many things like that and have adverse conditions,” Bell said after the race. “I personally love adverse conditions because you’re always trying to think outside the box.
“When we went back out [on wet weather tires after the red flag delay] I was feeling around and it felt like the normal Loudon groove was really, really slippery so I tried to just run down or up, but [crew chief] Adam [Lambert] really put the tune on this thing and it was running good.”
Christopher Bell might’ve been the most joyous about the experience, but drivers, fans and media members alike have given Elton Sawyer and NASCAR rave reviews for what they pulled off on Sunday, and hopefully it allows the sport to push the envelope some more into the future, as well.
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