MEXICO CITY — Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champ and current Hendrick Motorsports executive Jeff Gordon was recently asked on a Barstool Sports podcast about changes the sanctioning body is considering for the cars and he was ready with a well-considered answer.
He doesn‘t think the answer is as simple as increasing horsepower and bolting on softer tires, however.
Advertisement
MORE: Mexico schedule | Cup standings
“If we thought as a team adding horsepower, adding softer tires, was going to be the fix-all … it’s not. Adding horsepower I think, at certain tracks like the mile tracks and half-mile tracks, I like — I think we‘re too glued to the race track right now,” said Gordon, whose team drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson are ranked first and second in the championship standings. “So, adding power, I like. Adding as much power as I think maybe it takes would do two things: number one, cost, I hate bringing up cost but we‘re talking about components that won‘t last. Not just in the engine. So that‘s one.
“And then the other is,‘” he continued, “it might make the cars harder to drive and the drivers like it more but that doesn‘t mean that it‘s going to be a better race. Then on the Goodyear side of things they‘re trying really, really hard. I‘ve learned a softer tire doesn‘t necessarily mean more fall-off and that‘s what we want.
“We don‘t need a softer tire; we need a tire that has grip and then falls off where the driver and team have to manage the tire wear.”
