Option Tire offers a chance for different strategies in the NASCAR CUP race at Phoenix

Avondale, Ariz.-The crew chief Matt Swiderski almost turned a unique strategy into a top five-final Daniel Suarez in August in Richmond in the most recent Nascar Cup race with a primary band and an option band.

Austin Dillon won that Richmond race – after contact with two leaders on the final round – by concentrating more on the primary band than the option band.

It shows the different tactics that drivers and teams can take if they have different tires. The contemporary cup race at Phoenix (15:30 ET on FS1) has a primary band and an option tire, creating different possibilities with strategy.

Teams have six sets of primary ties plus the set they qualified with and two sets of option ties for the 312-Round race. The primary tires, with yellow letters on the sidewall, are faster over a longer distance. The option tires, which contain red letters on the sidewall, provide more speed early in a turn before wearing and slowing down than the primary band.

The key is when you need to use each tape. The general belief is that most teams want to keep their two sets of option ties to the last phase, saving one set for being a late warning -as was the case in that Richmond race.

Of course, when the warnings Golf and what strategies others use, thinking for some teams in the contemporary race on Phoenix Raceway can change.

Swiderski said the team thought it had a 10-15th place going in that Richmond race, which is why they planned to use a set of option ties earlier in the race. It also helped that Suarez won early last season and secured a play -off.

Suarez went from 22 to 15th in the first 74 rounds at Richmond with everyone on primary ties. After the first phase at Richmond ended, Swiderski put the team a set of option ties on Suarez’s car. Suarez started the 16th again and led 14 laps later.

Suarez was sixth when a caution sent the race in overtime. After using both sets earlier in the case, Suarez could only use the primary tires, while others around him used their second set of option ties. He finished 10th.

“The main goal was just to try and do something else, trying to shake it up a bit, because otherwise we thought we would have a decent day, but really just a 10th to 15th,” Swiderski told NBC Sports.

The question is who feels that they are in that 10-15th series on the way in the contemporary breed and willing to try to “shake” it by using their option ties differently from the bulk of the field? Without that late caution, Swiderski’s plan would have succeeded in a better finish.

It is easy to focus too much on the option ties because of the rapid profit they can offer, but most of the race is performed on the primary ties.

“I think it’s the most important thing to be good at the (primary band),” Dillon told NBC Sports. “If you are good at the (primary band) and you are only mediocre on the (option band), you will be better off.”

But Dillon noted that Phoenix is ​​not as shed on tires as Richmond and that the option tires can take longer before losing speed and slower round than those on the primary tires.

While Dillon’s victory is remembered more because he spun Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last round of overtime to win, he ran most of the race and took the last phase on the primary ties to the lead.

There were cases at Richmond – and probably again in the contemporary race in Phoenix – that drivers would move back into the field to the option band to prevent a shot from going off early.

“What is cool with the option is that if you struggle early, you can sponsor yourself and give you another adjustment, depending on where you are in the pack,” Dillon said. “… I think it’s great. Create more strategy. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think we should have an option strap everywhere. It’s cool for me. This is just more strategy. “