NASCAR: Winners And Losers From Bristol

2 of 7

Apr 17, 2016; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) and Martin Truex Jr. (78) lead a pack during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

Loser: Tires

It was not a good day, in terms of tires, for many drivers in the race. Among the list of drivers to have issues relating to tires were Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Brad Keselowski, who all finished 18th and below.

The most obvious issues came from Joe Gibbs Racing, in which all drivers except for Carl Edwards had pretty rough days.

Early on in the race, it was Kyle Busch who blew a right front tire. After two more incidents, he was eventually deemed out of the race. Next, it was Matt Kenseth, who led the second most laps of the day (142), as he blew a tire and slammed into the wall while leading. Last up, it was Denny Hamlin, who made contact with the wall multiple times.

#NASCAR … Goodyear official says that they are taking tires from 11, 18 & 20 that had issues for further analysis. @NASCARonNBC
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) April 17, 2016

This quote from Greg Stucker, the director of racing for Goodyear, gave us a little insight on where the issue was located at (via motorsport.com):

"“Everything we’ve seen has been from the Gibbs organization. The tires off (Kenseth) and (Hamlin) cars were very similar. (Busch’s) looked a little bit different, but again it was the same right-front position.”"

In the next week, we should learn a little bit more on what exactly went wrong for JGR and their right front tires.

Next: Impressive Outings

Home/NASCAR