Brad Keselowski Gives Major Tire Warning for Richmond as “the Math Ain’t Mathing”

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski has shared his thoughts on the concerning tire issues drivers facing at Richmond.

Brad Keselowski Gives Major Tire Warning for Richmond as “the Math Ain’t Mathing”

Brad Keselowski (Via IMAGO)

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RFK Racing has two more races, including the Richmond event this Sunday, to secure a playoff spot for at least one of their drivers. Just like in the last two season, the team seem to have found something just ahead of the playoff, as Ryan Preece secured the pole position. But his boss and No:6 Ford driver Brad Keselowski has some major concerns.

For the Cook Out 400, NASCAR has decided to go with the options tire from Goodyear and RFK owner driver Brad Keselowski has some issue. It’s softer than expected, is wearing of within 50 laps and that’s shows sign of the Cup drivers getting set up for a troubled night according to the 2012 Bill France Cup winner.

We’re in trouble. The tire’s supposed to be the option tire, it doesn’t look like the option tire, it doesn’t drive like the option tire. It’s going to be harder to run more than 50 laps on it.

Brad Keselowski said via Kelly Crandall.

The softness of the tires and the fact that NASCAR has only given them just the right amount of tire, not enough to compensate for issues they might have if things went south. The math ain’t mathing and the ex-champion is really concerned. Blake Harris, Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman’s crew chief, has already asked for extra set of tires but didn’t get the response they like.

If you look at the amount of tires we have, we have enough tires to go, I think it’s like 45 laps a set. Rough math. Not enough. The math ain’t mathing.

Brad Keselowski added.

In the same conversation the veteran racer admitted that there is possibility that he might be wrong with the assertion and the tire might last more than what he expects. The reason? the nighttime temperature might extend the life cycle of the option tire more than what it was seen in the practice session.  

I might be wrong. Maybe something will change and we’ll get into nighttime and the tires will extend their life cycle more than what we’ve seen in practice. But right now, it does not look good.

Brad Keselowski asserted.

Goodyear is happy with Brad Keselowski’s complaints

While the drivers and team are concerned about the tire, Goodyear who deliver them to NASCAR is beyond excited about it. The racing community has been calling for more soft tires, to make racing better, for a long time and they seem to have found the right balance.

Brad Keselowski (via Imago)
Brad Keselowski (via Imago)

Rick Heinrich, product manager for Goodyear, told the media the tire performance was spot on and declared that the fall-off was exactly what they wanted out of the new set of option tires. How the tire perform in the main event is going to determine what will be the tire for Martinsville and Phoenix races.

They’ve really performed spot-on because we’re seeing that kind of fall-off. We’re not seeing people showing that they can’t go as far as they’re going to have to go (Saturday) night. You’re going to have to put at lease 37 laps on a set of tires to able to make the math work. We’re seeing people go well beyond that.

Rick Heinrich said.

The comments from the former champion and Goodyear official shows positive signs. It would be interesting to see how the tire is going to perform for the star driver and which teams are going to take advantage of it the most.

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