Scoop News reporting summary

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And as competitive as NASCAR is, as competitive as these drivers are, if you can make time up on getting those fresher tires or better tires quicker, you obviously could gain a couple of positions." Powell said the wet-weather tires can also help drivers get back to competition faster. "It also helps promote the drying of the track fairly fast as well because the heat in the tires helps dry the speedway out," he said. "So, it really makes for some great racing because these drivers are trying to find those wet areas so those tires can grip up." He said NASCAR is trying to listen to fans, competitors and teams. "They dictate when you start on a wet race because obviously the tracks is wet," he said. "But once the track starts drying out, teams were wanting to get to the drier tires faster, and now NASCAR has allowed that." Even though track meteorologists, like Powell, are still forecasting the rain impacts; it may allow more time to focus on bigger issues that can impact the races, like lightning and damaging winds. "We get these bolts out of the blue where you see lightning strikes, 10 to 12 miles outside of the parent thunderstorm," Powell said. "Being able to have this now makes you focus more on that lightning threat or maybe that gusty wind threat that comes through with the outflow boundaries.