NASCAR has embraced the use of wet weather tires of late and Sunday’s race at Chicago was a little different in that the organization allowed teams to make the call on when to switch from wet weather tires to slick tires.
It was a decision that had some serious implications in the race, perhaps even becoming the deciding factor.
Kevin Harvick commented on his Happy Hour podcast that the end of the race was quite interesting. He stated that the strategy of using slick tires was clearly the losing one. Although Christopher Bell might have had a faster car with slick tires, there was only one effective line. By following Bell and switching to slick tires, many drivers ended up getting themselves buried.
Bell did, in fact, lead the charge into pit road just before the end of Stage 2. As he switched to slick tires, so did many other drivers.
Drivers like Alex Bowman did not. And ultimately it was Bowman that lasted longest toward the front of the field while those on slick tires tried to make a push.
It didn’t work out so well for most.
“Bell wrecked with trying to make a pass with whoever wrecked with, there was two or three of them that wrecked all at the same time,” Harvick said. “Somebody got loose and he wound up tore up. And really Ty Gibbs got knocked back there in the same type of situation and ultimately cost him a chance to win the race.”
One driver who didn’t fall victim to the slick tires until the very end was Tyler Reddick. For a brief minute it looked like Reddick was going to have the speed to close down Bowman and make it extremely interesting in the final lap.
