NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 15 — 400 laps / 600 miles
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 12 — 200 laps / 300 miles
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — Race No. 10 — 134 laps / 201 miles
Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) — Concord, N.C.Fast Facts for May 28-30, 2021
Tire: Goodyear “Honor and Remember” Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup: 3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 13 sets for the race (12 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying);
Xfinity: 6 sets for the event (maximum of 5 sets for the race);
Truck: 5 sets for the event (maximum of 4 sets for the race)
Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-4942;
Right-side — D-4930
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.);
Right-side — 2,248 mm (88.50 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 18 psi; Left Rear — 18 psi;
Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Storyline — Mastering temperature sensitivity the key to success at Charlotte: In addition to the challenge of it being the longest race on the NASCAR Cup circuit, this weekend‘s Coca-Cola 600 starts in the daylight and ends at night on one of the most temperature sensitive race tracks on the NASCAR circuit. The change in track temperature will affect the balance of the cars, making it important for crew chiefs to keep up with the track. Cup teams will have a total of 13 sets of tires for the 400-lap race, so pit road will also play a big part in the running order throughout the event. Teams that are quickest on all those four-tire stops will pick up valuable spots on pit road without having to do that on the track.
“The temperature sensitive nature of the track surface at Charlotte — as well as starting the race in daylight and ending at night — poses a great challenge for teams as drivers need to convey how the track is changing and crew chiefs need to make changes to stay ahead of those conditions,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “With 13 sets of tires, and the race divided into four stages instead of the ‘normal‘ three, teams will constantly be trying to keep up with, or ahead of, the changing conditions. Many times we see cars that are not running up front early in the event come to life and become contenders at the end, all based on teams making adjustments all race and striking on the right set-up for cooler conditions at night.”
Notes — NASCAR teams return to Charlotte on ‘20 tire set-up: Teams in all three NASCAR national series will run the same tire set-up at Charlotte this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires these teams ran on the Charlotte oval last season. . . while this exact tire set-up is only run at Charlotte, these Goodyear tire codes are utilized at other NASCAR tracks . . . this left-side tire code is also run at Kansas and Nashville, while this right-side code is run at Darlington and Homestead . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Charlotte . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
Goodyear to run special “Honor and Remember” sidewall at Charlotte: Since 2010, for one weekend per NASCAR season, Goodyear has changed the branding on the sidewall of its racing tires in a show of support for the United States military and fallen heroes. This being the 12th year of that program, the official tire supplier to NASCAR‘s top three series will work with the “Honor and Remember” organization for the third straight year (photo attached). The standard “Eagle” on the tires‘ sidewall will be replaced by the Honor and Remember logo on all Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series tires at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, as is part of the larger, industry-wide effort known as “NASCAR Salutes.”
Honor and Remember is a national organization based out of Virginia that has a mission to “perpetually recognize the sacrifice of America‘s military fallen service members and their families,” according to its website. The organization recognizes fallen military personnel from all wars or conflicts, and with those from all branches of service. They do so primarily by dedicating the specially designed Honor and Remember flag, which is intended to fly continuously as a tangible and visible reminder to all Americans of the lives lost in defense of our national freedoms.
— Goodyear Racing —
