Denny Hamlin sends dire warning over NASCAR change at Bristol

NASCAR fans should prepare for some tire chaos at Bristol this weekend if Denny Hamlin and his sources are correct.

Rubber could be the big storyline of the race at the Tennessee track on Saturday night (7.30pm ET) when the 2025 Cup Series playoffs continue - and not for the first time.

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Remember when Hamlin claimed victory at Bristol in March 2024, in a wild race which saw 54 lead changes thanks to excessive tire wear.

It seems NASCAR and tire supplier Goodyear have tried to mitigate the potential for a repeat of that chaos, but what Hamlin is hearing suggests there is some doubt about whether the plan will work.

A new right side tire will debut on Saturday night in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, a softer compound which it is hoped will promote better wear.

Hamlin reveals tire test meltdown

Denny though, speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast, explained: “They have this machine apparently that is like sandpaper, so they slide, anyway so there’s a tire that goes on this sandbelt machine, and then like checks the wear, like how is this tire gonna wear under certain loads.

“And apparently they put on the Bristol right side tire and it shredded into the machine immediately. Like it was so aggressive that it destroyed the machine, it just unraveled and got caught in the machine.”

What did Goodyear say about the new tire?

Per Hamlin and his sources, Goodyear has an explanation for this literal meltdown.

“Now what Goodyear said to the teams that were like ‘woah, what is that?’, they said 'listen, the thing came right off the line', like rubber takes time to cure so that once a tire comes off of a production line they usually try to let it sit for a certain amount of time. Because then the rubber will cure.

“Think of it like Super Glue - Super Glue, it’s like liquid and it will mould all round but eventually that thing stiffens up over time. Same thing with rubber - I’m oversimplifying this quite a bit. And they said that ‘when we tested it, the tire came right off the line and so that’s why it essentially melted in the machine’.”

Hamlin, who is already through to the Round of 12 following his terrific win at St Louis last weekend, does not know exactly how this will play out on Saturday night. But he would love a repeat of that chaos from March 2024.

“Either way, I’m all for Team Chaos this week. I hope we can’t run 50 laps. I just hope they have enough tires is gonna be my thing.”

Mark Keto, Goodyear Senior Project Manager for NASCAR, explained why the new tire will be brought to the races this weekend. The weather conditions play a big part in the thinking.

“The big thing is the track temperature difference between the spring races and the fall race. We know concrete, particularly Bristol, is very finicky when it comes to track temp on this Next Gen car and the entire setup we’ve been running.

"As we saw in the spring of last year, we had significant higher wear, probably a little too heavy. Then, in the fall, kind of flipped the script because the warmer track temp. So we wanted to make a change. Drivers have asked us to be aggressive.”

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