Sticky Tarz
Goodyear Fast Facts — Martinsville
GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES
NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 35 – 500 laps / 263 miles
Martinsville Speedway (0.526-mile oval) – Martinsville, Va.
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Short Track Radials
Set limits: Cup: 2 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 10 sets for the race
(9 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5254; Right-side — D-5256
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,261 mm (89.02 in.); Right-side — 2,279 mm (89.72 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 10 psi; Left Rear — 12 psi;
Right Front — 22 psi; Right Rear — 22 psi
Storyline – Goodyear takes another step on short track package with Martinsville tire set-up: As Goodyear continues to fine tune its short track tire package,
the tire maker has designed a new set-up for Martinsville Speedway this week. In coordination with NASCAR,
Goodyear has set forth on an aggressive agenda this year, which has seen the advent of an Option tire that was run at the NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in May and the second race at Richmond Raceway in August. This weekend, Cup teams will run that same right-side tread compound with a new left-side compound at Martinsville. The goal with this tire combination is to produce more grip and lap-time fall-off over the course of a run. Fall-off generally produces more passing throughout the field as tire management becomes more of a factor for drivers. Additionally, the goal at Martinsville is to lay rubber in the concrete corners in order to create a second racing groove.
“This year has been one of great development and advances on our short track tire package,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The Option tire that we ran at both North Wilkesboro and Richmond has been designed to give the Cup cars more grip early in a run and have lap times fall-off more later.
We come to Martinsville with that same right-side tread compound as part of the set-up teams will run, along with a left-side tire that utilizes the ‘softest’ tread compound in our tire lineup. Martinsville is a tricky track for many reasons – not only the time of year we race there, but also the layout with the tight, concrete corners. We had a good test there in August and came out of it with this set-up, which is another step forward on our short track package.”
Notes – Cup cars on new tire set-up at Martinsville: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup Series teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at Martinsville this week . . . these are two new Goodyear tire codes for this weekend, though this right-side tire is the same one run as the Option tire at both North Wilkesboro and Richmond-2 . . . compared to what was run this spring at Martinsville, this left-side tire features a compound change, while this right-side tire features both compound and construction changes . . . this tire set-up came out of a Goodyear test at Martinsville on August 20-21 . . . teams (drivers) that participated in that test were the 23XI Racing Toyota (Bubba Wallace), Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (Kyle Busch) and Front Row Motorsports Ford (Todd Gilliland) . . . 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 Martinsville: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radial tires to Martinsville 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 the wet weather tire in competition at Chicago in July . . . 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.