Drivers offer praise for Hoosier ST3s at Snowball Derby

The race on Sunday will be the ultimate test but everyone in the pit area has offered nothing but praise for Hoosier this week during the Snowball Derby.

Hoosier has had an embattled year with the ST2s and the decision was made to put both Late Model teams on ST3 right sides alongside the ST1 left sides. That right side features a harder sidewall but drivers say it’s not a tremendous feel difference from the Hoosier F45s used before.

Most importantly, the tire has repeatability from set-to-set that racers just haven’t had all season until now.

This sounds contradictory but as Bubba Pollard explains it, Hoosier made too good of a tire with the ST2 right sides.

“When we said we wanted a better tire, we meant quality and consistency, not better grip and performance,” Pollard said. “We needed the tire to be the same every time we bolted them on. We didn’t need to change the grip.

“So they made the tire better and that allowed us to make our cars better, faster and that means we’re abusing it, right?”

“There were a lot of things that went on, and everyone has their different opinions, but I think this tire is better. It seems like it’s giving us what we had years ago where we had to be smart, you can go fast because the left side is grippy but the right side loses a lot of lateral so it challenges you to be smart.”

Jeremy Doss said ‘this is actually a really good tire.’

Kaden Honeycutt says it feels like the Hoosier F50, which was its baseline.

“I think from a longevity standpoint, it will be better falloff wise,” Honeycutt said. “I actually think there’s going to be good cars on the short run and good cars on the long run, giving us the comers and goers compared to the old tire. I’m excited for that if that materializes.”

Matt Craig says it’s going to get ‘greasy’ and ‘slick’ and ‘slide a lot’ on a long run during the day after 10 laps. He also says the tire ‘has been consistent, which is all we’ve asked for this year,’ which is good.’

But based on the All-American 400, where this combination has been used, and then this week of practice, Craig thinks it’s going to make for a good race too.

Pole sitter Ty Majeski believes there will be less comers and goers, more of a track position race.

“I think we’re going to see cars kind of plateau at the same time, at the same speed,” Majeski said. “And really, this race doesn’t have a lot of riding anyway because everyone’s car is so good. You’re not going to just lay in the weeds. Those days are over anyway. So I don’t think the tires are going to have a huge effect on the race.”

But that’s also a good thing because for the first time all year, no one is worried about tires having a huge effect on the race either.