“I’m the opposite of excited”: Fans react as Denny Hamlin previews fresh tire factor at Martinsville

NASCAR will feature the softest tire compound at the Martinsville race since the introduction of NextGen cars in 2022, and Denny Hamlin reacted to the news on his podcast Action, Detremetnital, expressing his views on the news. However, motorsports fans are concerned about the major change in the tires, highlighting the Bristol incident.

Hamlin highlighted the left-side tires are going to be the "softest tire" ever made by Goodyear. On the other hand, the right-side tires are going to be of prime tire softness. He explained:

"Hopefully we get some tire wear. I mean, that's what we hope, is that we have tires that wear out, then you start to see some comers and goers and lots of passing—that's what we hope. And then setup will matter more. Drivers gonna matter more all those things. But I don't think anyone knows kind of what we're getting ourselves into until we get there". [00:15]

The Florida native's only concern is about the tire wear on the flat short tracks. He added:

"The difficult part about it is that a tire that does shed rubber sheds it onto the racetrack, and so then it fills in all the pores of the racetrack, and then tire wear will not be as big of an issue after halfway or the race or so. So, you know, it's going to be a balance to see how this all works out, but I'm excited that we actually made a big, big jump and change trying to fix some of these short tracks." [00:59]

Fans expressed their concerns in the comments, with one Motorsports fan highlighting:

"Since it's a playoff race, I'm the opposite of excited."

Another joined him and wrote:

"I'm ready for it along with the chaos of those trying to get in the #Championship4"

A fan wants to add soft tires in all races and commented:

"Make soft tires for all races. The teams are smart enough to make the right camber adjustments. Drivers for how hard they want to drive into the corners."

One of the fans recalled the Bristol incident and tweeted:

"I went to Bristol last month excited. I learned my lesson."

One fan expressed his demand and commented:

'"Just bring back the tire from spring Bristol."

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Denny Hamlin recalled his fourth win at Bristol Motor Speedway

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin won the Food City 500, where all the drivers were struggling with the tires. The race was chaotic from the beginning and led to the most (54) lead changes in NASCAR's short-track history. The situation got so bad that the race car association gave one set of extra tires to each team, and they got a total of 11 sets of tires, including the set used in the qualifying race.

This was Hamlin's 52nd win and fourth win at Bristol Motor Speedway, and this win didn't come easy. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had quite an experience with short tracks, and he used it to prepare a tire management strategy that led him to victory. Hamlin stated:

"That’s what I grew up here doing in the short tracks in the Mid Atlantic, South Boston, Martinsville. Once it became a tire-management race, I really liked our chances".

The NASCAR Cup Series driver led the most (163) number of laps in the 500-lap race. He secured 44 points in the race, and his teammate Martin Truex Jr. was the runner-up just 1.083 seconds behind him.