Big show Teams hand out tires for the indi's to scrub in, tire guy then takes those tires and match pairs them to be used during elim's.
At our level 1/2" is not enough to worry about unless you listen to know-it-all people it the stands that have never owned a car. I buy a matched pair of "green" tires and put them on the car, burn them in and never once after that ran a tape around them, I cant afford to keep buying tires to match them up----It does not make any difference at our level, same goes with compound, after a couple of races and the sun beating down on them , they are all the same.
Racing does not have to be expensive--a racer just has to be smart about it