"We didn't run as hard": NASCAR legend Richard Petty reveals classic tire management secrets amid Bristol challenges

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and his long-time crew chief Dale Inman recollected tales of their tire management strategies in the 1960s and the 70s after witnessing the chaotic Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Food City 500, at the concrete half-mile oval in Bristol, was blighted by high tire wear as drivers' tire management skills were put to the test last Sunday. This created plenty of comers and goers, with a record 54 lead changes taking place on the short track.

Richard Petty, a three-time Cup race winner at Bristol, disclosed his tire management tactics. 'The King' claimed he would never push hard on a new set of tires and would maintain pace until his competitors wore out their tires. He would then charge through the pack.

Reviewing the Bristol race and expanding on his short track tactics, the 86-year-old NASCAR legend said on his YouTube channel Petty Family Racing:

"I don't know if I was good at tire management or not, but I do know that a lot of times you put brand new tires and the cars would run quicker. So a lot of times we didn't run as hard as some of the rest of the people did. So that we didn't wear the new off the tires."

"We done everything we could to try to do tire management and that was a different groove on the racetrack or just maintaining your speed early and let the guys wear their tires out before you start racing with them."

Dale Inman, Petty's long-time crew chief, lauded the seven-time Cup champion's tire management skills. Inman added that during their time, keeping the tire temperature in the working window (to avoid overheating) was more important, as tire wear wasn't much of a concern.

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Richard Petty reflects on tire wear in the NASCAR Cup race at Bristol

Kyle Petty, Joe Gibbs, and Richard Childress joined Richard Petty to give the command for the Food City 500 last Sunday and kicked off one of the most thrilling short-track races of the next-gen era.

After witnessing the 500-lap race, 'The King' admitted that he had never seen such a circumstance where all drivers wore out their tires after stints of similar lengths. He said in the aforementioned episode:

"Not the way it done... I have never seen anything where so many people wore out the tires at the same time, within four or five laps. Everybody just wore their tires out. I've never, no, basically I've never seen tire wear work out exactly the way it did at Bristol."

While the Food City 500 was a unique spectacle for NASCAR fans, Dale Inman remembered a 100-mile dirt race in Hickory, North Carolina, when Richard Petty used 22 sets of tires to win the race.