The present disclosure relates to lubricant oil compositions formed from base stock oils to optimize internal combustion engine performance. Base stock oils are identified that have selected cetane number characteristics and relatively reduced reactivity to improve their associated combustion characteristics and reduce engine knock without the need to modify the engine fuel or engine parameters such as compression ratio and/or ignition timing. The base stocks may specifically include esters of dicarboxylic acids, esters of trimellitic anhydride and/or alklyated naphthalene compounds.