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🏎 NASCAR's Wet Weather Experiment In New Hampshire Has Mixed Reactions

🏎 NASCAR's Wet Weather Experiment In New Hampshire Has Mixed Reactions

NASCAR's decision to wait out the storm led to the use of wet weather tires

Kyle Dager
June 26, 2024

Good morning! In a shocking turn of events, Chase Briscoe has been announced as the driver of the #19 for JGR in 2025.

Okay, so not that shocking as Christopher Bell already let the cat out of the bag. But props to JGR for making a small slip-up into a fun and memorable driver announcement!

Nice touch by Joe Gibbs Racing to have Christopher Bell formally introduce Chase Briscoe.
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi)
5:09 PM • Jun 25, 2024

Parker’s POV

Wet Tires Are Priceless

Back in the winter of 2016, I received a group email from NBC bosses tasking all the talent with providing one big idea to help NASCAR. I immediately knew what I was going to say—rain tires on ovals! People called me names and said I was a complete lunatic, but I knew they just didn’t know what they were talking about.

It frustrated me that the best teams and drivers in the world of stock car racing and America’s #1 motorsport were afraid of a little water. Coming from a road course background and having won numerous races in the rain, I just could not figure out why it wasn’t a thing to race on ovals in the wet.

Most of all, I remember pit reporting at Bristol in the fall of 2016 when the race was stopped and then postponed due to a rainstorm. I then watched 100,000+ paying fans stand in the pouring rain trying to get trams back to their cars. I was not only angry for them but sad—sad that they stood there drenched and cold as the sport basically said, “Sorry, bro.”

Fast forward to today, and I have now driven my first 11 laps ever on rain tires on an oval (the Xfinity race this weekend started on rain tires). It was everything I expected and more! The car was lively, and the tire wallowed around like a bias ply; then the track dried, and you could kill the tire in a matter of corners. It was awesome!

But then on Sunday, the coolest thing happened. The NASCAR Cup Series was past the halfway mark. Teams had recognized an impending storm and decided to take a strategic risk that the race would be stopped and eventually called. The storm rolled in; we did two hours and ten minutes of rain fill, including me talking about my experience on rain tires. Then it happened.

“DRIVERS TO YOUR CARS!” came across the NASCAR radio channel. The drivers all climbed back in, but suddenly their cars were different. They were on wet weather tires, and the track, which would have in years past never been dry enough to restart this race with impending darkness, was now alive with racecars.

Was it a long day? Yes, about 6.5 hours of broadcast for our team at NBC. But most importantly, for all the fans that bought a ticket and stayed, they witnessed the future of NASCAR.

Races will no longer be so easy to figure out or be called off. Most importantly, there will be an immeasurable increase in the likelihood that when you buy a ticket, you will see a race. Sure, there is a cost to this, and people will have their opinions on how to do it correctly, but fans knowing they will see racing? That is priceless.

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Racing In The Rain

🌧️ Wet-weather tires stole the show at New Hampshire's USA Today 301. NASCAR's bold move to wait out the weather and race on a damp track proved successful, transforming what could've been a washout into a thriller.

Facing tricky weather all weekend, NASCAR decided to start Sunday's race early. A heavy downpour paused the action, but wet-weather tires saved the day. “We would have been done with 82 laps to go,” said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s SVP of competition. After a two-hour delay, the race resumed, showcasing drivers' skills in challenging conditions.

Christopher Bell shined, clinching his third win of the season. “Hopefully that was entertaining because it was something different, something new,” Bell remarked.

However, it wasn't without issues. Drivers faced noncompetitive pit stops to keep crew members safe on a soaked pit road. Drivers urged NASCAR to focus more on drying pit road to maintain competitive pit stops going forward. Adam Stevens, Bell’s crew chief, noted, “It was very, very wet...absolutely the right call.”

NASCAR's wet-weather test was a hit, promising more exciting races under unpredictable skies.