Extreme tire put on throughout Sunday’s Food City 500 was so drastic that the NASCAR Cup Series discipline was dangerously near not having sufficient Goodyear tires to finish the race. However, the troublesome situations produced one in all NASCAR’s most entertaining short-track races lately. Saturday’s 12 Hours of Sebring was simply as enthralling and featured a race-winning breakout drive from Louis Delétraz. It’s Monday, March 18, 2024 and that is Racing Recap, your abstract of final weekend’s motorsports motion.
More Tire Wear, More Fun At Bristol
Goodyear isn’t certain why the tire put on was so excessive at Bristol Motor Speedway. Both NASCAR and its tire provider aimed for elevated degradation to create extra aggressive motion on-track. The race noticed 56 lead modifications, a Cup Series report for brief tracks. However, there have been issues that the groups would run out of units earlier than the checkered flag. The tire producer appears at a loss as to why the damage was worse than anticipated. Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s racing director, advised Racer:
“We tested here last year with the intent to come up with a tire package that generated more tire wear — that was the request from NASCAR and the teams. We feel like we had a very successful test. We feel like we had a very successful race in the fall of last year because we did exactly that. We ran a full fuel stop [and] definitely saw wear, but we thought it was spot on. So now we’re trying to understand what’s different — why is the racetrack behaving differently this weekend than what it did a year ago?”
The new Toyota Camry got here alive as all 4 Joe Gibbs Racing automobiles held the entrance for a major variety of laps. As time went on, the cream rose to the highest. Experienced drivers with good tools managed their tires higher and stayed in competition on the finish. Denny Hamlin gained the race, taking back-to-back victories on the Last Great Colosseum after successful the Night Race final September.
Race Results
1. – Danny Hamlin (Gibbs)
2. – Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs) – +1.083 seconds
3. – Brad Keselowski (RFK) – +7.284 seconds
4. – Alex Bowman (Hendrick) – +14.342 seconds
5. – Kyle Larson (Hendrick) – +15.155 seconds
Sebring Never Disappoints
Wayne Taylor Racing ended its year-long win drought with a dramatic end at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Louis Delétraz was handed the reins to the No. 40 Acura for the ultimate stint and delivered. The Swiss driver went wheel-to-wheel at the hours of darkness towards four-time Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais and got here out on high.
Pipo Derani and the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac that stole final yr’s IMSA title from WTR had been nowhere to be discovered on the end. The No. 31 was the quickest GTP within the race, however Derani took himself out of the race when he turned throughout the nostril of a Ferrari. The Cadillac speared off the racing floor, launched off a tire wall, and landed on its roof. Derani walked away, however the day was carried out for Action Express.
Race Results
1. – No. 40 WTR Andretti Acura
(J. Taylor / Delétraz / Herta)
2. – No. 01 Cadillac – +0.891 seconds
(Van Der Zande / Bourdais / Dixon)
3. – No. 7 Penske Porsche – +8.898 seconds
(Cameron / Nasr / Campbell)
4. – No. 25 Team RLL BMW – +12.056 seconds
(De Phillippi / Yelloly / Martin)
5. – No. 10 WTR Andretti – +15.155 seconds
(R. Taylor / Albuquerque / Hartley)
Source: jalopnik.com