Concerns about tire rubber being laid on the track have prompted a return to the PJ1 Trackbite traction compound this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
On the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said the decision was made after resin produced unsatisfactory results after Cup Series practice and qualifying last September. In an unusual move, PJ1 Trackbite was applied on the morning of the Sept. 21 night race at Bristol.
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NASCAR and track officials elected to go the entire weekend this time with PJ1 Trackbite, which is a sticky substance applied to the track via a spray.
“It was a pretty big curveball for the teams (last year),” Forde said. “We talked to the garage and said, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re looking at,‘ so that’s why we did it. So that is the reason why we are doing it again this weekend because of how little the track took rubber. It seems to be only a Bristol issue with the speeds, the banking, the concrete and those things in concert. We’ve noticed that the PJ1 works a little bit better.”
NASCAR and its tracks largely have moved away from using PJ1 Trackbite as a traction compound over the past four years since the PJ1 resin (which is produced by the same company) was applied for the inaugural Cup race weekend at Nashville Superspeedway in June 2021.
Forde said resin was used more recently because “it was more predictable, more consistent and lasted kind of the entire race where PJ1 Trackbite … needed to heat up and wasn’t as predictable and consistent” but seemed to be the best match for Bristol‘s concrete surface. …
The final caution at Darlington Raceway also was addressed during the podcast. Kyle Larson was spun after contact from Bubba Wallace, whose teammate, Tyler Reddick, had just lost the lead to Ryan Blaney.
Forde said NASCAR officials reviewed the incident to confirm “there was nothing nefarious, and that we saw what everyone else saw that (Larson) checked up and unfortunately (Wallace) hit and spun them.” Forde also explained how NASCAR‘s new remote race control at its production facility in Concord, North Carolina, can review real-time data and communicate with the scoring tower on site to help analyze such incidents.
Former senior vice president of competition Scott Miller is involved with the new remote race control, which has been in place since the Daytona 500.
Other topics covered during the 10th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The Wi-Fi trouble for some teams early in the Cup race at Darlington Raceway;
— The new Damaged Vehicle Policy that allowed Larson to return to the track from an early crash;
— NASCAR‘s meeting with Xfinity drivers after the caution-plagued race at Martinsville Speedway
The guest on this week‘s “Hauler Talk” is Amber Wells, the senior director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Regional Partnerships who discussed the Throwback Weekend at Darlington, the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting process and her experience as a passenger on the “Miracle on the Hudson” flight in 2009.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the new “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
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