Kevin Harvick criticizes NASCAR & Goodyear for lack of progress in wet tire development

Kevin Harvick recently slammed NASCAR and Goodyear over their lackluster wet tire development. Despite the sporting body's initiation of the wet tires in the recently concluded race at New Hampshire, Harvick believes the authority should further develop the tires.

NASCAR has been a slower party to adapt to the wet racing situation as the Next Gen cars do not have the perfect criteria to race in fully wet conditions. Despite Goodyear's efforts to bring in wet tires, they were far from ideal in terms of practicality.

Furthermore, many pundits believe that the Goodyear "wet weather" tires are akin to "wet surface" tires as the tire manufacturers and NASCAR cannot enable wet racing in ovals effectively.

Harvick said on his podcast "Happy Hour":

"The rain tires have to have a... they need a little bit of development. They need some stagger at the back of those tires. That was the first thing that we told NASCAR and Goodyear after North Wilkesboro and we still have no stagger in tires." [16:48]

"So, I'm not sure why we haven't developed the tires a little bit further to have some stagger for the ovals. And they also need to make sure they bring enough. They are going to have to bring more trailers to the racetrack to have rain tires in there to be competitive," he continued.

Back in the day, the Stock cars only raced in oval courses. However, with time, the situation changed and the sport received more and more global attention. With Next Gen cars in play now, the sport moved to road courses and street courses, bringing in more and more requirements to continue the races in wet weather.

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How did NASCAR's first wet weather race with wet tires turn out?

Christopher Bell claimed his third win of the season in a rain-soaked race in Loudon - the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. With this, he became the fourth driver to seal three wins this season after Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and William Byron.

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 23, 2024 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

The #20 Camry driver finished ahead of the Stewart-Haas Racing duo of Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry. Larson and Buescher claimed the fourth and fifth spots respectively to round off the top five.

After 18 races of the 2024 regular season, Larson leads the standings with Chase Elliott, both having 620 points. Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick complete the top five with 580, 572 and 560 points, respectively.

The NASCAR competition will now move to Nashville Superspeedway for the Ally 400 on June 30.