NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 4 — 312 laps / 312 miles Phoenix Raceway (1.0-mile oval) — Avondale, Ariz.
Fast Facts for March 8-10, 2024
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup: 3 sets 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-5208; Right-side — D-5210
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,249 mm (88.54 in.); Right-side — 2,278 mm (89.69 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 14 psi; Left Rear — 14 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 26 psi
Storyline — Goodyear introduces change to Phoenix tire set-up as the sport works on short track package: Since the Next Gen car was introduced for the 2022 NASCAR Cup season, the sport and its stakeholders have continued to make changes, updates and enhancements. For this week‘s race at Phoenix Raceway, Goodyear will continue on a path it began at the race at Martinsville Speedway last October and at a test at Phoenix last December. The change Goodyear has brought forward is to increase the gage — or tread thickness — in its short track tire package. The thicker gage is designed to keep more heat in the tires on short tracks, which is designed to increase lap-time fall-off in order to bring tire management into play and make for even more competitive racing. In testing, drivers also gave feedback that the new tires have more “feel” and increase grip.
“We‘ve been working on our tire set-up as the sport has made adjustments to the short track package with this Next Gen car,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “We first increased the gage in the Martinsville set-up last fall and that‘s the direction we‘re going for the other short tracks on the schedule. NASCAR held a test with six cars at Phoenix in December, which gave us another chance to get on the track and get feedback from the teams and drivers. That test went well from our perspective so we start this season with the new set-up at Phoenix and many other tracks.”
Notes — New tire set-up for Cup cars at Phoenix: Being on the 18-inch bead diameter tire, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix this week . . . this is the first time Cup teams have run either of these two Goodyear tire codes . . . compared to what teams ran at Phoenix last season, both this left-side and right-side tire have more gage (tread thickness) . . . the increased gage helps keep some heat in the tire and give the cars more grip with this NASCAR short track package . . . Cup teams are also scheduled to run this same tire set-up at Gateway, New Hampshire and Richmond later this season . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars will not run inner liners in any of their tires.
Wet Weather Tires — Goodyear bringing wet weather tires to Phoenix: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radial tires to Phoenix for the NASCAR Cup cars, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams will have a maximum of 4 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, and last ran it on a short track in the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro last May . . . 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. 4 — 200 laps / 200 miles Phoenix Raceway (1.0-mile oval) — Avondale, Ariz.
Fast Facts for March 8-9, 2024
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 — 14 psi; Left Rear — 14 psi; Right Front — 28 psi; Right Rear — 26 psi
Notes — Fifth consecutive Phoenix race on this tire set-up for Xfinity teams: 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 Phoenix this week . . . Xfinity teams have run this left- and right-side tire codes at Phoenix since the beginning of 2022 . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, Xfinity teams will not run liners in their tires at Phoenix.
Wet Weather Tires — White-lettered tires on hand: Goodyear will bring its 15-inch wet weather radials to Phoenix for use by Xfinity Series teams, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . teams will have 3 sets of wets available for the event . . . Xfinity teams last ran in wet conditions on the Indianapolis road course last August, and has not yet run in the wet on a short track . . . 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 —
