As if the finale of the Round of 16 being at Bristol Motor Speedway wasn’t enough of a challenge for this season’s group of playoff wheelmen, there’s a couple other obstacles in their way this weekend.

Kevin Harvick recognizes the struggle it’ll be for each driver to advance to the Round of 12 on Saturday, and he highlighted a couple of them during the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, beginning with the unknown that the tires will represent after the fall-off during the spring race.

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“I think, for me, the thing that sticks out leading into Bristol this week, we heard so much about the tires last time wearing out, and the type of race that we saw was pretty extraordinary, extreme circumstances, and Bristol was the racetrack that Goodyear wasn’t worried about that happening,” Harvick explained. “I think most everybody says it was temperature related. So, was it, or was it not? That’s the part for me that, you know, is intriguing leading into this weekend.

“If it wasn’t temperature related, and we go back and those tires shred again, and we have that same type of race, it’ll be interesting to see how that’s handled. … “Everything about the playoffs is stressful. And then you add this round, there isn’t a known quantity that happens in this round, with Atlanta, Watkins Glen, with a new tire, and now you’re going back to Bristol, with what they say was temperature related, and the tires lasted, what, 40 laps? 35 laps, the first time around? So, if that’s the case, then you would set your car up differently for what the tires are going to be.” 

All of those factors combined has Harvick’s co-host Mamba Smith wondering what each team will use as their set-up, and whether they should be more conservative in doing so at Bristol on Saturday.

“The balance of the tire, rules,  all this stuff — the car, you’ve got to keep it moving, because if not, the teams are too smart. They’re always gonna out-smart whatever obstacle you put in front of them, and they’ll do it quickly,” Smith added. “So, if you just leave stuff as it is, you run into, like, the choo-choo-train type races that you don’t want. You’ve got to give it to them for at least trying to do different stuff.

“Hopefully, you know, it’s a little bit more manageable than maybe in the spring. … I would prepare for the shredding. … I don’t trust the temperature either way, because I’m gonna go with I think it was a tire, and I’m gonna try to be a little conservative with my setup, I think.”

Aside from the tires, Harvick relayed his concerns about another issue drivers may face, with track officials electing not to spray the racetrack with resin until after the ARCA and Truck Series races are done with. That could create a whole different issue, according to Harvick.

“I think, right now, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to spray the racetrack until the ARCA and Truck Series races are over with, with the resin. … I’ve never seen him do it that way before, but I know that those guys have been locked down to the to the bottom of the racetrack the last several times that they have been there, because of the the resin or the PJ1 being on the on the bottom of the racetrack, to make that the dominant lane,” Harvick said.

“So, I think not spraying that racetrack and track until those guys race, probably allows, I would think, the racetrack to get wider and more rubbered up sooner, so that would be my guess. A lot of guessing.” 

While NASCAR Cup Series teams don’t love having to guess regarding a race, especially in the playoffs, that’s the challenge they’ll be met with at Bristol this weekend. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the motorsports world will be watching closely to see how it all unfolds.

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