With the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race featuring two different tire compounds next month at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the annual non-points exhibition event could serve as a preview of things to come for all three national touring divisions.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer confirmed that if the two-tire procedure is successful, it could be adopted for the 2018 regular season.

"This is something we will certainly look at for 2018," O’Donnell said. "We want to see how this plays out. But when you look at where the levers we can look to pull from a competitive standpoint, this is certainly one of those, and one we’re excited about. We’re positive about what could happen … and it’s something we would look at for sure."

O’Donnell said NASCAR had wanted to explore this option for several years but the decision to gradually lower downforce was a bigger priority. Now it appears as if the 2017 package has provided the decision-makers an opportunity to move forward.

"It's been in discussion for the last several years but with the rule changes we wanted to provide time to allow the tires to catch up so we put it on the shelf a little bit," O'Donnell said. "The All-Star Race was always where we wanted to try this.

"We've always kind of had it in the background though."

So why not try it sooner? Veteran Kurt Busch says downforce and weight has made softer tires too risky a proposition for Goodyear to tackle over the past decade.

"The reason we've never done that in my mind, and it's just from my perspective, but our cars are heavy and we don't need tires blowing out from teams going too soft," Busch said. "So if we can continue to get more weight off our cars then we can have that element to go to softer tires."

If this proves successful, it could provide a fascinating and exciting element to intermediate tracks -- the most populous and lackluster subset of tracks on the NASCAR schedule. Softer tires provide more grip and regulating a strategic mix of softer and harder compounds will generate more passing while forcing teams to decide when they want to employ their faster tires.

It’s a dynamic that has proven successful for other forms of motorsports like IndyCar and Formula 1.

"I can't wait for the All-Star Race to see how it plays out," Busch said. "Formula 1 has tire options. I was talking to Kyle Larson backstage and there's an option to go to a softer tire or harder tire in sprint car racing too.

"This would just allow us to keep up with the broader trend in motorsports."

Larson expounded on the topic.

"In dirt track racing, you have two to three different compounds you can choose from, different staggers, to make your car work better," said Larson. "Adding that little bit of tire game and strategy is exciting for the race teams. And if you can hit on it, it’s really good."

Busch said he first caught wind of the idea roughly six months ago.

"There's been good dialogue between Goodyear, the driver's side, the owner's side and NASCAR," Busch said. "I'm not in the driver's council or in those meetings but I get to hear about it from Kevin Harvick when he comes back from those meetings.

"He first mentioned it six months ago."

While NASCAR has focused on aerodynamics for much of the past half-decade, this most recent development seems to support the notion that tires may be the most underappreciated aspect of producing good racing.

That’s definitely Busch’s sentiment.

"This is really neat," Busch said. "You know, tires are the bloodline of our sport, it's the rubber hitting the road. When you look at a tire you can see its wear pattern and see how the rubber comes off the tire. You can see where cars gain speed with the tire pressure. It's the most important element of what we do."

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