NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 14 — 400 laps / 600 miles Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) — Concord, N.C.
Fast Facts for May 24-26, 2024
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup: 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 13 sets for the race (12 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5184; 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 — Cup Series‘ second half of regular season kicks off at temperature sensitive Charlotte: During its first 13 races of the 2024 season, the NASCAR Cup Series has visited many tracks with unique characteristics. This weekend, teams will face varying conditions all at one facility — Charlotte Motor Speedway. While the length, baking and corner radii at Charlotte won‘t change, the racing conditions will. The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the season, starting in daylight and ending at night. That makes this race one of the more temperature dependent on the schedule, necessitating that teams build a lot of adjustability into their set-ups to keep up with the track. Often in the 600, teams can be running near the back of the pack early in the race and then charge to the front later as conditions change, and vice versa.
“Charlotte is one of the more temperature sensitive race tracks on the NASCAR circuit, with the fact that this race starts in the sunshine and ends at night,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear‘s director of racing. “Those changing conditions lead to teams having to make significant adjustments to the car over the course of the evening, and one of those adjustments is the air pressure in the tires. With temperatures expected to be in the 80s during the day and then cooling as we get into the evening, the cars will typically gain grip as the race goes on. That grip leads to more speed and will change how the car handles. Teams want to be able to optimize their set-ups for the varying conditions and be able to be most competitive in that fourth stage of the race.”
Notes — Cup teams on Darlington tire set-up with updated right-side at Charlotte: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at Charlotte this week . . . Cup teams ran this same combination of left- and right-side tires at Darlington two weeks ago . . . they have also run this right-side tire code at Las Vegas, Kansas and Texas already this season . . . this is the same left-side tire Cup teams ran on the Charlotte oval last season . . . this right-side tire features a construction update compared to Charlotte 2023 . . . with this 18-inch tire and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.
Goodyear to run special “Honor and Remember” sidewall at Charlotte (see attached): 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 15th year of that program, the official tire supplier to NASCAR‘s top three series will work with the “Honor and Remember” organization for the sixth straight year. The standard “Eagle” on the tires‘ sidewall will be replaced by the Honor and Remember logo on all Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series tires at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week, as is part of the 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.
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 12 — 200 laps / 300 miles NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series — Race No. 11 — 134 laps / 201 miles Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) — Concord, N.C.
Fast Facts for May 24-25, 2024
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Xfinity: 6 sets for the event; Truck: 5 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6110; Right-side — D-6130
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.); Right-side — 2,250 mm (88.58 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 18 psi; Left Rear — 18 psi; Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Notes — Third straight Charlotte oval race on this tire set-up for Xfinity, Trucks: Being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series at Charlotte this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that teams in these two series have on the Charlotte oval since 2022 . . . these teams have run this left-side tire code at Las Vegas (both series), Texas (both series) and Kansas (Trucks only) this season . . . they have also run this right-side code at Darlington (both series) two weeks ago . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, Xfinity and Truck teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions on the Charlotte oval . . . 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 (see attached): 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 15th year of that program, the official tire supplier to NASCAR‘s top three series will work with the “Honor and Remember” organization for the sixth straight year. The standard “Eagle” on the tires‘ sidewall will be replaced by the Honor and Remember logo on all Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series tires at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week, as is part of the 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 —
