All things being equal, and in NASCAR now all things are equal, tires will tell the tale. Especially on short tracks. Get your tire pressure just right, maybe a little bit on the soft side so they grip better at the start, get the right balance, where the weight of the car on the left front and right rear equals the weight of the car on the right front and left rear, get out front early and you’re off to the races.
Because nobody will be able to pass you unless they can beat you in the pits. Since all the teams get their parts and pieces from single source suppliers, and since NASCAR does not allow you to modify those parts and pieces the least little bit, all the cars come to the track pretty much the same. So getting near perfect tire pressure and near perfect balance is about the only thing that gets you any separation.
And if you get out front and can set the pace, keep your car running smoothly in the same lane around the bottom of the track at say 80 percent of maximum speed, those behind you will use up their tires trying to catch up and you can pretty much lead the way the whole day.
That’s what Kyle Larson did at Bristol last Sunday, leading an astounding 411 of 500 laps. That’s what William Byron did the week before at Darlington, leading 243 of 297 laps but losing the race and finishing second to Denny Hamlin after he got behind on a green flag pit stop.
Darlington, by the way, is not a short track. It’s generally thought of as an intermediate track but it’s really kind of an outlier, too long to really be a short track and not quite a mile-and-a-half that defines the lower end of NASCAR’s intermediate ovals.
The week before he snuck across the finish line to beat Bryon at Darlington, Hamlin himself had a dominant car at Martinsville, where he led 274 of 400 laps.
So this is not your father’s short track racing. Used to be there was more separation between the cars, and if you came up on a slower car you’d put the bumper to him and send him up the track and sometimes into the fence which led to a lot of beatin’ and bangin’ after he got straightened out and came around looking for you.
In fact Bristol was the scene of perhaps the most iconic spin-out in NASCAR history. It happened at the night race in 1999 and featured two of the sport’s all-time greats, Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte.
As the two came to the white flag, Labonte edged in front and looked like he was on his way to a hard fought win. But Earnhardt would have none of that, and as they went into the first turn he clipped Labonte and sent him into the wall.
Earnhardt never denied he hit Labonte intentionally, he said he just intended to move him out of the way and never meant to wreck him. Earnhardt may have been the most popular driver in NASCAR history, but when he got out of his car to be acknowledged by the crowd, instead of the raucous roar that usually accompanied his wins he was greeted by a thunderous cascade of boos. It was probably the only time in his illustrious career that the fans in the stands turned on him.
Now, it’s get your guy out front and let everybody else try to catch him. And even if you do catch him you’re probably not going to get by him, at least not on the track.
“We were just trying to set ourselves up for the best opportunity for longevity, for pace, for Kyle to be able to manage the runs with the tire degradation in mind,” Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, said after the race.
In Earnhardt’s day, it was much simpler. See car in front. Hit car in front. Knock car in front out of the way. Worked for him.
NASCAR NOTES: No race this week.
OGS Bristol picks: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Bristol winner: Larson. OGS season record: 4-3.
OGS Competition Index top 10: 1-Hamlin 218 points, 2-Bell 187, 3-Larson 179, 4-William Byron 139, 5-Josh Berry 77, 6-Bubba Wallace 73, 7-Tyler Reddick 67, 8-Alex Bowman 52, 9-Ryan Blaney 47, 10-Chase Elliott 45.
OGS Competition Index top 10 on short tracks: 1-Hamlin 155, 2-Larson 115, 3-Bell 103, 4-Wallace, Ty Gibbs 30, 6-Elliott 25, 7-Berry 24, 8-Chase Briscoe 20, 9-Blaney 15, 10-Joey Logano 12.