Goodyear Fast Facts — COTA - Speedway Digest

NASCAR Cup Series – Race No. 6 – 68 laps / 231.88 miles
Circuit of The Americas (3.41-mile road course) – Austin, Tex.
Fast Facts for March 22-24, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits: Cup: 3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 6 sets for the race
(5 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Codes: Left-front & Right-rear — D-5212; Right-front & Left-rear – D-5213

Tire Circumference: 2,275 mm (89.57 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 20 psi; Right Front — 22 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Storyline – Cup teams on “directionally mounted” tires at COTA: NASCAR Cup teams are on a well established tire set-up at Circuit of The Americas this weekend, having run it in all of its six road and street course events last season. Having such consistency is a great benefit to the teams in that they have a detailed notebook built up on this tire and how it responds on the track. The unique thing about this Cup tire set-up is that the tire on all four corners of the car is the same (construction and compound), yet there are two different tire codes – one on the left-front and right-rear, and one on the right-front and left-rear. This allows Goodyear to build each distinct code to have the tread run directionally and handle the different stresses asked of it, whether it is a front or rear, left-side or right-side. This reduces the stress on the tire’s tread splice, the area of the tread that is joined together in the manufacturing process. That comes into play specifically under heavy braking into the corners on the front tires and heavy acceleration off the corners on the rear tires.
“Over the past two Cup seasons we’ve gone to a consistent road course tire set-up that utilizes one tire on all four corners of the car but with two tire codes,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The two different ‘D-codes’ identify on which corner of the car each tire should be run. This system of mounting the tires directionally helps to protect the beveled splice of the tread component, insuring that it’s ‘closed’ under braking on both front tires and closed under acceleration on both rears.”

Notes – Cup cars on established tire set-up at COTA: All three NASCAR national series will run different tire set-ups at COTA this week . . . Cup teams ran this same tire combination at COTA in 2023, as well as at their other five road courses last season . . . different from how Cup teams run distinct left-side and right-side tire codes on ovals, they will run one tire code on the left-front and right-rear, and a different tire code on the right-front and left-rear (see Storyline above) . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.

Wet Weather Tires – Goodyear has wet weather tires at COTA: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radial tires to Circuit of The Americas for the NASCAR Cup cars, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams will have a maximum of 6 sets of wet weather tires for the event . . . NASCAR Cup teams last ran a wet weather tire in competition at the Chicago street course last July . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.

GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES

NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 6 – 46 laps / 156.86 miles
Circuit of The Americas (3.41-mile road course) – Austin, Tex.
Fast Facts for March 22-23, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits: Xfinity: 5 sets for the event

Tire Code: D-6144 (same on all four tire positions)

Tire Circumference: 2,240 mm (88.19 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 20 psi; Right Front — 22 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Notes – New road course tire for Xfinity cars at COTA: All three NASCAR national series will run different tire set-ups at COTA this week . . . Xfinity teams will run the same Goodyear tire code on all four tire positions . . . this is the first time these teams have run this tire, which features a construction update vs. what they ran at COTA in 2023 . . . Goodyear held a tire test with Xfinity cars at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S.C. in January . . . as on all NASCAR road courses, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at COTA.

Wet Weather Tires – White-lettered tires on hand at COTA: Goodyear will bring its 15-inch wet weather radials to COTA for use by teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . Xfinity will have 5 sets of wets available for their event, with a maximum of 4 sets for the race . . . Xfinity last ran in wet conditions on a road course at Indianapolis last August . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.

GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – Race No. 5 – 42 laps / 143.22 miles
Circuit of The Americas (3.41-mile road course) – Austin, Tex.
Fast Facts for March 22-23, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits: Craftsman Truck: 5 sets for the event

Tire Code: D-6122 (same on all four tire positions)

Tire Circumference: 2,240 mm (88.19 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 20 psi; Right Front — 22 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Notes – Trucks return to COTA on established road course tire: All three NASCAR national series will run different tire set-ups at COTA this week . . . these teams will run the same Goodyear tire code on all four tire positions . . . this is the same tire Truck teams ran at all road courses last season, including at COTA . . . as on all NASCAR road courses, Truck teams will not run inner liners in their tires at COTA.

Wet Weather Tires – White-lettered tires on hand at COTA: Goodyear will bring 15-inch wet weather radial tires to Circuit of The Americas for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Truck teams will have a 4 sets of wet weather tires for the event, with a maximum of 3 sets for the race . . . the last time Truck teams ran in the wet on a road course was at COTA in 2021 . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.

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