NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 20 — 301 laps / 318.5 miles New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval) — Loudon, N.H.
Fast Facts for July 15-16, 2023
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup — 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 8 sets for the race (7 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5214; Right-side — D-5216
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,251 mm (88.62 in.); Right-side — 2,276 mm (89.61 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 14 psi; Left Rear — 14 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 26 psi
Storyline — New Hampshire marks the continued evolution of 18-inch tire: The NASCAR Cup Series is still relatively early in its history with the Next Gen car and the 18-inch bead diameter tire. In the middle of last season, Goodyear introduced a construction update that it rolled into tracks over the course of the season. After a recent test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway yielded positive results, Goodyear has made some strides in giving the cars grip on a track where that comes at a premium. New Hampshire has relatively long corners and a lack of banking for a one-mile track, and teams are constantly searching for more grip. The new tread compounds showed much promise during that test and will be utilized this weekend. From a set-up standpoint, Cup teams have often gone below left-side air pressures to get ahold of New Hampshire. This week‘s more tractive tread compounds should ease the need to push the limits and open up the teams‘ toolbox in finding speed.
“With more races on this car — the wider tire, the 18-inch wheel package, the independent rear suspension — we are taking steps to generate more grip, tire wear and tire fall-off,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “After a successful test at Loudon in the spring, we‘ve done that for this week‘s Cup race with different tread compounds than we ran there last year. The track surface has a lot to do with wear, but developing more tractive tread compounds that generate more wear on their own has been a focus of ours, and that’s the goal of the new set-up at Loudon.”
Notes — New tire set-up to debut for Cup at New Hampshire: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at New Hampshire this week . . . this is the first time these teams have run either of these two Goodyear tire codes . . . compared to what Cup teams ran at New Hampshire last year, there are compound changes on both the left- and right-side tires to give the cars more grip and introduce more wear . . . this tire set-up came out a Goodyear test at New Hampshire on April 25-26 . . . teams (drivers) participating in that test were the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Christopher Bell), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Chase Elliott) and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing Ford (Brad Keselowski) . . . 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 brings white-lettered “wets” to New Hampshire: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radials to New Hampshire for use by teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . the tread pattern on this tire is based on Goodyear‘s Eagle Supercar 3 consumer tire . . . NASCAR Cup teams last ran a wet weather tire in competition on the Chicago street course two weeks ago, and the last time on a short track at the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro in May . . . on short tracks, Cup teams will have 4 sets of wets available for the event . . . 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.
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 17 — 200 laps / 211.6 miles New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval) — Loudon, N.H.
Fast Facts for July 14-15, 2023
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Xfinity: 5 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6114; Right-side — D-6116
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,218 mm (87.32 in.); Right-side — 2,244 mm (88.35 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 12 psi; Left Rear — 12 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 27 psi
Notes — Third race on this tire set-up for Xfinity teams this season: 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 New Hampshire this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires these teams ran at New Hampshire last season . . . this is also the same tire set-up these teams ran at Phoenix and Richmond earlier this season . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at New Hampshire.
Wet Weather Tires — White-lettered tires on hand: Goodyear will bring its 15-inch wet weather radials to New Hampshire for use by Xfinity Series teams, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . on short tracks, Xfinity teams will have 3 sets of wets available for the event . . . Xfinity last ran in wet conditions on the Chicago street course two weeks ago . . . 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 Racing —
