NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 30 — 334 laps / 501 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) — Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for September 23-24, 2023
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup: 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 9 sets for the race
(8 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5186; Right-side — D-5222
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,263 mm (89.09 in.); Right-side — 2,277 mm (89.65 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 20 psi; Left Rear — 22 psi;
Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 46 psi
Storyline — Round of 12 begins on demanding Texas track: Coming off the recent race at Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to a mile-and-a-half track at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Speeds will be high and teams must be cognizant of Goodyear‘s recommended air pressures, as well as their cars‘ geometry settings. Getting too aggressive with a set-up can put undue stress on the tires, causing the sidewall to over-deflect and suffer damage to the point of air loss.
“We start the Round of 12 of the Cup playoffs this weekend at Texas, so there is a lot at stake for teams,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “As we often see at the intermediate tracks, the speeds and loads make it important for teams to balance that ‘risk vs. reward‘ equation of speed vs. durability. As always, we are working directly with the teams to help them understand how the air and car settings will affect the tires. We provide a lot of data leading into the weekend so they can make informed decisions as to where the line is, and then those conversations continue throughout practice and the race to make sure everyone knows where they stand.”
Notes — Cup teams on new right-side tire at Texas: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at Texas this weekend . . . this is the same left-side tire code that Cup teams ran at Texas last September, but with a different right-side code . . . compared to the 2022 race, this right-side tire features a construction update . . . while this right-side tire is unique to Texas, Cup teams have run this left-side tire at Auto Club, Kansas, Las Vegas, Michigan, Nashville and Pocono this season . . . this tire set-up came out of a Goodyear test at TMS on July 11-12 . . . teams (drivers) participating in that test were the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Denny Hamlin), No. 22 Penske Racing Ford (Joey Logano), No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet (Daniel Suarez) . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 28 — 200 laps / 300 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) — Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for September 23, 2023
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Xfinity: 6 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 returns to Texas on 2022 tire set-up: 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 Texas this weekend . . . Xfinity teams are on the same combination of left- and right side tires that they ran at this track last September . . . in 2023, they have also run this tire set-up at Las Vegas, Michigan and Kansas . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, Xfinity teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Texas . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear —
