NASCAR is happy with the results of a Monday wet weather tire test at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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The sanctioning body held a session at the 1.5-mile track the day after Tyler Reddick punched his ticket to the Championship 4. John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota), Alex Bowman (Chevrolet), and Ryan Preece (Ford) took part.
According to NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran, the test was a success.
"Goodyear's done just a fabulous job with the tires," Moran said Tuesday to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "...They did the test, five sets of tires. They had the control (tire), and then they had four different options. And they wet the track down the night before, so it was damp. And then they got it wet prior to the start of the test.
"From my reports — and we'll go through this thoroughly later today as well in our competition meeting — but from what I've heard, the tires held up really good. They did a great job.
"They were running up against the wall and kind of all over the racetrack in the wet. There was some spray, which we anticipated. The speeds are obviously much higher when we go to a mile-and-a-half. So we've probably got a little work to do there. But overall really, really good test, and the drivers all agreed."
The test at Homestead-Miami Speedway continued years of work for NASCAR. Teams have raced on road courses in wet conditions in past seasons, but the sanctioning body has taken steps to take the action to short, oval tracks as well.
While teams are not able to race in downpours, they can head to the track earlier than normal with the wet weather tires. They don't have to wait for the crews to fully dry short tracks.
The first successful use of these tires in wet conditions was the non-points-paying All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway last season. NASCAR then used the tires this season for the spring race at Richmond.
The most recent example of wet weather tires on an oval track was the June race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
"I mean, this is a directive from (NASCAR CEO) Jim France a couple years back," Moran said. "We've been working hard at it. We started doing some testing a few years ago. Obviously, we got to see more of it this year and it worked out very well at New Hampshire and as well as North Wilkesboro.
"And it certainly helped us get back to racing and helped the fans have the opportunity to enjoy the race when they come. So, again, we have not been running in downpours, but we certainly have run on wet tracks."
