While Kurt Busch celebrated his win, a few drivers in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway lamented what could have been as tire issues plagued the field during the 267 laps.
The problems had surfaced during Saturday’s practice when a total of five cars lost tires. They included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano both of whom had to go to backup cars for Sunday’s race.
Sunday polesitter Christopher Bell lost the lead under caution on lap 64 with a flat left rear. The caution was for Daniel Suarez who spun with a flat left rear while running fourth.
William Byron also lost a tire while leading on lap 113. Shortly after Byron, Tyler Reddick hit the outside wall with a left rear down.
Erik Jones problem wasn’t a tire, it was a wheel. Jones was running inside the top 10 and finished eighth in Stage 1. During the pit stops, the crew wasn’t able to get the right rear wheel off the car. They sent him back out, but when he pitted on lap 130, the crew struggled with the wheel, trying several different ways before finally sawing it off.
“We knew on that last pit stop something was wrong,” tire carrier James Houk told Fox TV. “We knew it was going to be awhile to get off. We contemplated going back (to the garage) and cutting the wheel completely which is actually what we ended up doing on pit road with the ‘saws all’ and then it finally came off.
“Never seen it.”
Chase Elliott meanwhile had the opposite issue. His left rear tire flattened and the carcass fell off while he was running sixth on lap 196. Elliott’s car slid to a stop in the grass and he was stuck in the mud losing three laps as workers frantically tried to remove the car, a tow truck getting stuck as well in the process.
Jones lost seven laps and ended the race in 32nd, six laps down.
“We started out pretty good, but a little on the free side,” Jones said. “The guys made good changes and made a pit call to get us in the top 10 and stage points at the end of stage one. Unfortunately, we had the issue with our tire and getting the right rear off. That kind of ended our day after going multiple laps down. We’ll refocus and head to Texas for the All-Star race.”
Elliott finished 29th.
As for the rash of flat tires, Goodyear said Saturday the problem stemmed from crews using air pressures below what Goodyear recommended on the tires in order to gain speed.
That was a wild one. @JamieLittleTV talks with James Houk of @PettyGMS about the issue at Kansas. pic.twitter.com/TU5So5c5pO
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 15, 2022
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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