NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 23 — 200 laps / 400 miles
Michigan International Speedway (2.0-mile oval) — Brooklyn, Mich.
Fast Facts for August 6-7, 2022
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Cup: 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 7 sets for the race
(6 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5180; Right-side — D-5182
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,274 mm (89.53 in.); Right-side — 2,279 mm (89.72 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 22 psi; Left Rear — 24 psi;
Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 46 psi
Storyline — Two kinds of heat to consider at Michigan this week: With summer temperatures expected to be in the upper-80-degree range at Michigan International Speedway this weekend, race fans will surely feel the heat. For NASCAR race teams, however, there is a different kind of heat they are mindful of — tire heat. The track surface at Michigan is relatively “smooth,” so there is not a high amount of tire wear. With the speed expected of the Cup cars, a lot of heat is generated over the course of a run. Since tire heat normally gets dissipated through the tread and there is little wear, Goodyear must design its Michigan tire with the proper tread compound and the appropriate gage (tread thickness) to help that process along.
“Excessive and sustained heat is the enemy of a race tire,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “When you have a smooth track surface, like the one at Michigan, tires just don‘t wear naturally. Heat gets generated the more a tire is run, but on most tracks that heat gets dissipated as the tread wears. At Michigan, as on other low-wear tracks, we design the tire with an appropriately formulated tread compound and minimal tread gage to help control the heat generation, and enable the tire to run at a more optimal performance level.”
Notes — Cup teams on unique tire set-up at Michigan: Having moved to an 18-inch bead diameter tire for 2022, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at Michigan this week . . . this is the first time Cup teams have run either of these two tire codes . . . Goodyear held a tire test at Michigan on May 31-June 1 . . . teams (drivers) participating in that test were the 23XI Racing Toyota (Bubba Wallace), Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (Austin Dillon) and Penske Racing Ford (Joey Logano) . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars will not run inner liners in any of their tires in 2022.
GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 21 — 125 laps / 250 miles
Michigan International Speedway (2.0-mile oval) — Brooklyn, Mich.
Fast Facts for August 6, 2022
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Xfinity: 5 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6110; Right-side — D-6112
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.); Right-side — 2,250 mm (88.58 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 19 psi; Left Rear — 19 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Notes — Xfinity teams on Las Vegas/Texas tire set-up at Michigan: Being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series at Michigan this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that Xfinity teams have run at Las Vegas and Texas earlier this season . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Michigan . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear Racing —
