Sonoma Raceway Pre-Race Thread

StandOnIt

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if I am being honest, my favorite roadie on the calendar. When Jeff Gordon was at the height of his powers, the talent disparity showed. It was great seeing him throw the car around this place.
 
Hey Nitro, I posted a video under sports/entertainment -Mis. Car stuff , that you might be interested in.
Thanks, that was awesome and it brought back a lot of old memories. NASCAR teams and NHRA teams operate about the same as far as their procedures. The one difference is that NASCAR teams work out of the rear of their trailers so they don’t have to set up an awning. NHRA teams work out of the side of their trailers so they set up an awning the length of the trailer with a plastic flooring and lights, fans, electric cords and air hoses hanging from the awning to service the car. Plus work benches are set up for each crew member to use for their work station. I look forward to seeing the next episode.
 
Can't wait. :punkrocke So excited to see what MY Toyotas can do after arguably the worst race of the year last year.
 

Goodyear Fast Facts — Sonoma​

NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 16 – 110 laps / 218.9 miles
Sonoma Raceway (1.99-mile road course) – Sonoma, Calif.
Fast Facts for June 10-11, 2023

Tire:
Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits: 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 6 sets for the race
(5 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Codes: Left-front & Right-rear — D-5212; Right-front & Left-rear – D-5213

Tire Circumference: 2,240 mm (88.19 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 22 psi; Right Front — 20 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Storyline – One tire, two tire codes for NASCAR Cup teams: With these heavy, high horsepower NASCAR Cup cars, racing on such a technical road course as Sonoma Raceway puts an incredible amount of stress on the tires. That includes the hard braking entering the turns affecting the front tires and hard acceleration off the turns affecting the rears. One part of the tire that is particularly stressed is the tread splice, the area of the tread that is joined together in the manufacturing process. Because of that, Goodyear now runs one tire on the Cup cars at road courses with two different tire codes. This allows it to build each of the two codes and have the tread run directionally to handle the different stresses asked of it, no matter if it’s run on the front or rear, left-side or right-side. As a result, the left-front and right rear tires will have one code (D-5152) while the right-front and left-rear tires will have a different code (D-5153), which is different than on ovals where all the lefts have one code and all the rights have a different code.

“Our tire set-up on road courses is different than the one we run on ovals,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Instead of having separate right- and left-side codes, on road courses we directionally mount our tires in order to protect the tread splice, which is beveled and comes together across the tread. After we designate the tire as a left-front/right-rear or a right-front/left-rear and decorate the outboard sidewall, we now insure that the tread splice remains ‘closed’ under braking on both front tires and under acceleration on both rears.”

Notes – Sonoma tire now aligned with other NASCAR Cup road courses: These are two different Goodyear tire codes than what NASCAR Cup teams ran at Sonoma last season, with a compound change to bring this track in line with other road courses . . . this tire set-up has been run by these teams at COTA earlier this season, and will be run again at the Charlotte Roval, Chicago street course, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen later . . . the two tire codes have identical constructions and compounds, but they carry different codes because of the way they are mounted (see above) . . . 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 Sonoma: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radials to Sonoma 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 at the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro last month, and the last time on a road course at Watkins Glen last August . . . 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.
 
Quickly looked at recent pics on Instagram.... looks like some hints of green grass remain at Sonoma!
 
Sonoma: the Kyle Larson Invitational. Yay. 🤣😔 (Then again, what track could we NOT say that about?)
 

Goodyear Fast Facts — Sonoma​

NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 16 – 110 laps / 218.9 miles
Sonoma Raceway (1.99-mile road course) – Sonoma, Calif.
Fast Facts for June 10-11, 2023

Tire:
Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits: 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 6 sets for the race
(5 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Codes: Left-front & Right-rear — D-5212; Right-front & Left-rear – D-5213

Tire Circumference: 2,240 mm (88.19 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 22 psi; Right Front — 20 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Storyline – One tire, two tire codes for NASCAR Cup teams: With these heavy, high horsepower NASCAR Cup cars, racing on such a technical road course as Sonoma Raceway puts an incredible amount of stress on the tires. That includes the hard braking entering the turns affecting the front tires and hard acceleration off the turns affecting the rears. One part of the tire that is particularly stressed is the tread splice, the area of the tread that is joined together in the manufacturing process. Because of that, Goodyear now runs one tire on the Cup cars at road courses with two different tire codes. This allows it to build each of the two codes and have the tread run directionally to handle the different stresses asked of it, no matter if it’s run on the front or rear, left-side or right-side. As a result, the left-front and right rear tires will have one code (D-5152) while the right-front and left-rear tires will have a different code (D-5153), which is different than on ovals where all the lefts have one code and all the rights have a different code.

“Our tire set-up on road courses is different than the one we run on ovals,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Instead of having separate right- and left-side codes, on road courses we directionally mount our tires in order to protect the tread splice, which is beveled and comes together across the tread. After we designate the tire as a left-front/right-rear or a right-front/left-rear and decorate the outboard sidewall, we now insure that the tread splice remains ‘closed’ under braking on both front tires and under acceleration on both rears.”

Notes – Sonoma tire now aligned with other NASCAR Cup road courses: These are two different Goodyear tire codes than what NASCAR Cup teams ran at Sonoma last season, with a compound change to bring this track in line with other road courses . . . this tire set-up has been run by these teams at COTA earlier this season, and will be run again at the Charlotte Roval, Chicago street course, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen later . . . the two tire codes have identical constructions and compounds, but they carry different codes because of the way they are mounted (see above) . . . 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 Sonoma: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radials to Sonoma 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 at the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro last month, and the last time on a road course at Watkins Glen last August . . . 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.
"High horsepower" lol
 
No matter what car it was this was a possible outcome he took a hard drivers side first shot.

Jerry Nadeau’s career was ended and life forever altered by a very similar crash 20 years ago. Noah walking away from that is a testament to the safety of the cars. Jerry didn’t walk.
 
Almirola is a mediocre driver who somehow convinced Smithfield to be loyal to him. I don’t get why Smithfield wouldn’t pledge loyalty to someone who can give them results.
Sponsor relations depend on more than just a driver's on-track record. Smithfield may like the image he presents personally. They may like the way he works a crowd at their events. They may like being able to be involved with racing at a lower cost than a Hamlin or Busch would run.
 
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