NASCAR’s wet-weather racing exploits were flawed, but ‘a lot of fun’

Earlier this season at Richmond, the Cup Series had the first experience using wet weather tires on small ovals as teams started the race with them and ran the first 30 laps until the track dried.

It was just a taste, but most observers – and many drivers – found the race better and more entertaining on wet tires than on the slicks used for the remainder of the race.

Sunday saw an even bigger opportunity and an even bigger payout at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The race was red flagged after 219 laps when heavy rain and storms hit the area of ​​the track. Tyler Reddick appeared set to claim victory thanks to a bold decision not to pit during the stage break as his 23XI Racing team expected rain to come before the end of the race.

They were right, but they probably wouldn’t have bet on NASCAR waiting out a nearly two-hour, 15-minute delay and then deciding to run the remainder of the race on wet-weather tires as night fell.

To be completely honest, it was difficult to find anyone – media member, fan or driver – who had done this.

an unlikely restart

Nevertheless, once NASCAR removed standing water from the track, it allowed teams to change wet weather tires while parked on pit road in their stalls and also allowed them to add fuel.

When the race returned to green with 77 laps remaining, the “fun” – as race winner Christopher Bell called it – began.

Drivers moved into multiple lanes throughout the track, and also created some new lanes, such as aprons. It seemed that the only place the driver didn’t dare go was the infield, although at times a couple looked as if they could.

There were a few cautions for accidents, a few cautions and even an overtime restart.

Bell ultimately won the race – not really a surprise winner as he had won at the track in an Xfinity Series race the day before and owned a previous Cup victory at the 1.058-mile oval.

However, a quick check of the results revealed an obvious truth – the decision to continue the race while the track was still wet drastically changed the results.

Only three drivers who would have finished in the top 10 if the race had not restarted were still around when it ended after 305 laps – and one of them was the winner.

The two drivers best placed to challenge Bell on the final restart for the win – Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry – were not running well enough to compete earlier in the event.

Reddick, who had never progressed until his decision to drop out after Stage 2, managed to remain in the top 10 and finished sixth. Kyle Larson ran almost the same way – finishing seventh and fourth at red flags.

two different species

No one would have predicted top 10 finishes for Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. or John Hunter Nemechek after watching their performances over the first 219 laps.

As Bell said after the race, “It was literally a tale of two completely separate events.”

He also acknowledged that while he raced well before the red flags – he was ninth – the wet weather race significantly improved his fortunes.

“I mean, what race do we want to talk about? Do we want to talk about Loudon dry or Loudon wet? he said laughing after entering the media centre.

“Obviously the rain absolutely shook up everything that was going on, and even in the dry we got off to a really good start. I was able to get the lead in the first stage, and then Martin (Truex) Jr. really came in there in Stage 2.

“Definitely I think we had some room for improvement in the dry things. I certainly didn’t have the flagship car. Then whenever we got wet, it was like – I mean we must have been somewhere completely different.

In terms of competition on the track, that was certainly the case.

Fans who waited late – at the track and watching on TV – certainly got bonus entertainment, and in the end, what happened is what most people will remember.

Despite the successful execution of racing on the wet oval, there were some noticeable problems that will need to be addressed in the future.

from them:

-Allowing each team to add wet weather tires while the race was in jeopardy seemed reasonable, but when NASCAR also allowed teams to add fuel, it changed the outcome of the race for those who won the stage. Stayed out after 2 and gambled when the weather arrived. NASCAR’s decision to restart races should not be a free pass for teams who ultimately made a poor strategy decision.

-NASCAR is not allowing teams to choose when to use which tire – it makes the decision. This was understandable before there were real results on track with the tyres, but now that it has, it’s time to let teams make the kind of calls they have spent their careers making.

-Obviously allowing competitive pit stops on pit road that remains wet is a safety concern, which is why NASCAR has not allowed them until now. Perhaps the cars could be parked in a different location under a red flag for rain, allowing work to be done on pit road as well as on the track in preparation for the return to racing.

– Teams were given four sets of wet-weather tires for Sunday’s race and only three were ultimately used. At some point, NASCAR will face a situation where it will have to face conditions that will allow the use of the tires for the entire race. Yet, they are clearly not equipped to do so. It would be good for NASCAR to set some rules regarding how many races it is willing to hold under adverse conditions rather than finding itself in the middle of an event and bringing it to a premature conclusion.

Ryan Preece, Stewart-Haas Racing, Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett/NKP/Motorsport Images

Again, none of the issues raised in Sunday’s race ultimately resulted in a poor result or experience, but they remain legitimate questions and were raised by teams during the event.

Another point also came up – why did NASCAR never adopt its own ‘dark policy’, which involves setting a time to end a race when there is darkness and no lights? More than one crew chief was surprised that this was never mentioned.

NASCAR takes a lot of criticism on a variety of issues, and some is certainly justified, but it is far ahead of any other major racing series in its investments in track drying efforts and improvements to wet weather racing on road courses and now ovals. .

Sunday’s races in New Hampshire – both of them too – were showdowns with big payoffs.