Kyle Petty explains why racing on wet weather tires at New Hampshire made the race better

Kyle Petty believes the switch to wet weather tires during last weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ironically made for some better racing.

The NASCAR Cup Series tried to move up the start time to avoid Mother Nature interfering in the USA Today 301 on Sunday, but it was to no avail, as rain and lightning rolled through the area with 82 laps to go. The red flag came out, and with the way it was down-pouring in Loudon, hope seemed to be lost.

Then, in a twist we haven’t seen really ever in the Cup Series on an oval, the decision was made to put on the wet weather tires, and NASCAR was able to finish the race. Christopher Bell was the major beneficiary, as he was able to take the lead and hold onto it.

Afterwards, Petty elaborated on why the racing at the end of the race proved why wet weather tires can work, believing the final 82 laps plus overtime made for one of the better races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in quite some time.

“New Hampshire. It never rains in New Hampshire. It always rains in New Hampshire when there’s a NASCAR race, and this weekend was no exception. But I thought the rain and the wet track made it one of the best New Hampshire races that I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Petty explained. “Christopher Bell did a masterful job of maintaining an understanding of what the track was doing, and understanding how he needed to change his positions on the racetrack.

“Now, I go back, It’s a wet weather tire. It is not a rain tire people. We didn’t see any windshield wipers on these cars. It’s a wet weather tire, and I want to throw something at you, in wet conditions, the track gets slick. Slick track means throttle, means driver, means good racing. Let’s just put those three together right there. What we saw though, was these guys were running three to four seconds slower when the rain came and the wet track came than what they were under normal conditions, and it didn’t change the racing. Running slower made the racing better. It went from a two, maybe a three groove racetrack, to a six groove racetrack. Those guys were on the apron with their left sides in the grass almost when the weather came. That’s because that’s what weather tires do. They allow you to run in other places. They allow the racetrack to open up.”

It was once thought NASCAR could only use the wet weather tires at a road course, but Sunday’s action has proven there’s many more possibilities than that. Kyle Petty and the rest of the NASCAR world loved the action, and now it’s only a matter of when, not if we’ll see them again.