LOUDON, N.H. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. grabbed some extra track time Tuesday and Wednesday by taking part in a Goodyear tire test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“We don’t get a lot of time to test anywhere so you welcome the opportunity to get out to the racetrack when none of the other competition can,” Earnhardt said. “Of course, there’s a couple other drivers here but you look at this like an advantage to sort of get a leg up on the other guys and take some great information back to your teammates.”
While it’s a great opportunity to gather information for NASCAR’s return to the track in August, the driver of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS said there are really two agendas to a tire test.
“Obviously you try and learn what you can but you’ve got an obligation to Goodyear to test the tires and help Goodyear understand what kind of tire they need to bring back,” he said. “That’s really the number one priority. The tire test is your obligation to Goodyear.”
Goodyear comes to the test with a series of tires they want information on so they can better understand what type of compound they need to provide. But there’s always a certain type of tire Earnhardt said drivers are looking for.
“What you want in a tire is one that has a lot of falloff,” the driver explained. “One that basically slows down quite dramatically over the period of a run but doesn’t change much balance-wise, so it doesn’t get tighter or get looser as it runs repeatedly.”
Regardless, Earnhardt said that it’s been a good two days of testing.
“The cars felt good in the little windows we’ve had to learn anything,” he said. “I think we’re getting some good information.”