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While responding to a question on whether NASCAR Cup teams are left with unused tires after a race weekend, Denny Hamlin claimed on his podcast Actions Detrimental that they don't get reimbursed for those tires.
As for what happens to the tires that aren't used during a race, Hamlin's response suggested that teams can't return them to the manufacturer. Instead, what ends up happening is that they can use those tires on another track.
"If we have a leftover set, $2400 a piece or whatever they might be, we can't just turn them back to Goodyear and get a refund. They tell us you're buying these sets of tires, and they're yours now and you can do whatever you want with them," Hamlin explained. (0:30-0:43)
The $65 million worth driver further added that they'd likely use that extra set for practice,
"Let's say we go to Kansas next weekend, we'd likely tap into that extra set and say okay we're gonna practice on those tires."
But Hamlin also emphasized that NASCAR teams do not tend to use older tires as rubber ages, which can affect the cars. He said:
"But if Kansas is three or four months down the road, we're not gonna want old date codes, we're not gonna want older tires because they age, rubber ages and changes compounds...that can really mess up a car." (1:03 - 1:21)
Denny Hamlin reveals how much JGR suffered in tire losses in 2022
In the same podcast episode, Denny Hamlin also revealed the amount of money that more or less went to waste for Joe Gibbs Racing a couple of years ago. Hamlin spoke about the amount JGR spent on tires that it never ran.
During the same conversation about tires on his podcast show, Hamlin revealed how much money Joe Gibbs Racing lost in the extra tires in 2022.
"Nearly $1,000,000. Nearly one million dollars worth of tires that JGR, that the team spent on tires that it never ran," Hamlin said. (1:57-2:06)
It's worth mentioning that on one of his podcast episodes last year, Hamlin revealed how much the Next Gen car actually costs. The #11 driver claimed that at the time NASCAR was devising the car's budget, it cost around $225,000. But that didn't turn out to be the case.
Hamlin, making a rough estimate, said that the budget for Next Gen cars, with all their components that teams purchase to make them functional and racecar ready, was somewhere around $350,000.
