Goodyear Fast Facts – Homestead
OCTOBER 18, 2022 AT 3:07 PM
NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 34 – 267 laps / 400.5 miles
Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Homestead, Fla.
Fast Facts for October 22-23, 2022
Tire:
Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Cup: 1 set 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-5184;
Right-side — D-5190
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,263 mm (89.09 in.);
Right-side — 2,279 mm (89.72 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 20 psi;
Left Rear — 22 psi;
Right Front — 48 psi;
Right Rear — 44 psi
Storyline – High-wear Homestead back in the playoffs: After a two-year absence from the NASCAR Cup playoff schedule, former championship weekend site Homestead-Miami Speedway returns as a late-season race. Homestead is mile-and-a-half speedway with progressive banking that has produced some of the best racing on the Cup circuit over the years.
There are two main factors that will come into play this weekend. First, Homestead has an abrasive track surface that wears tires. That means tire management will come into play, with drivers who are easier on their tires early in a run will fall-off less later in the run and be able to pass cars. To go along with that, four-tire pit stops will be the call of the day, meaning pit crews will have a major impact on the race. Second, car set-ups, including air pressure in the rear tires, will be important. Being an intermediate speedway, teams will be trying to get the rear end of the car down as much as the can to create rear downforce. Along with camber and shock settings, observing Goodyear’s minimum recommended pressures will be key to the life of the tires. Low air pressure settings will allow the sidewall of the tires to deflect more, potentially causing damage that will result in air loss later in a run.
“Homestead is a high-wear track, and that wear, along with the resultant tire fall-off, creates a lot of ‘comers’ and ‘goers’ throughout the field over the course of a run,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Another thing to watch for, like at Las Vegas last weekend, is teams’ air, camber and suspension settings. With this Next Gen car, teams have found that getting the rear end of the car down and sealed off helps the diffuser create more rear downforce. We continue to provide teams with test data to help them understand the true risk vs. reward in running lower than recommended air at various set-ups.”
Notes – New tread compounds await Cup teams at Homestead: Having moved to an 18-inch bead diameter tire for 2022, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series at Homestead this week . . . in addition to the obvious construction changes in moving to the 18-inch tire, this set-up features compound changes to both sides of the car (more grip) compared to what was run at Homestead last year . . . this left-side tire code is unique to Homestead, but Cup teams have run this right-side code at Pocono, Kansas-2, Texas-2 and Las Vegas-2 this season . . . this tire set-up was confirmed at a NASCAR organizational test at Homestead on September 20-21 . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars will not run inner liners in any of their tires in 2022.
