New Hampshire Pre-Race Thread

Goodyear Fast Facts — New Hampshire​

NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 20 – 301 laps / 318.5 miles New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval) – Loudon, N.H.
Fast Facts for July 15-16, 2023

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials

Set limits: Cup – 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 8 sets for the race (7 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5214; Right-side — D-5216

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,251 mm (88.62 in.); Right-side — 2,276 mm (89.61 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 14 psi; Left Rear — 14 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 26 psi

Storyline – New Hampshire marks the continued evolution of 18-inch tire: The NASCAR Cup Series is still relatively early in its history with the Next Gen car and the 18-inch bead diameter tire. In the middle of last season, Goodyear introduced a construction update that it rolled into tracks over the course of the season. After a recent test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway yielded positive results, Goodyear has made some strides in giving the cars grip on a track where that comes at a premium. New Hampshire has relatively long corners and a lack of banking for a one-mile track, and teams are constantly searching for more grip. The new tread compounds showed much promise during that test and will be utilized this weekend. From a set-up standpoint, Cup teams have often gone below left-side air pressures to get ahold of New Hampshire. This week’s more tractive tread compounds should ease the need to push the limits and open up the teams’ toolbox in finding speed.

“With more races on this car — the wider tire, the 18-inch wheel package, the independent rear suspension – we are taking steps to generate more grip, tire wear and tire fall-off,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “After a successful test at Loudon in the spring, we’ve done that for this week’s Cup race with different tread compounds than we ran there last year. The track surface has a lot to do with wear, but developing more tractive tread compounds that generate more wear on their own has been a focus of ours, and that’s the goal of the new set-up at Loudon.”

Notes – New tire set-up to debut for Cup at New Hampshire: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at New Hampshire this week . . . this is the first time these teams have run either of these two Goodyear tire codes . . . compared to what Cup teams ran at New Hampshire last year, there are compound changes on both the left- and right-side tires to give the cars more grip and introduce more wear . . . this tire set-up came out a Goodyear test at New Hampshire on April 25-26 . . . teams (drivers) participating in that test were the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Christopher Bell), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Chase Elliott) and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing Ford (Brad Keselowski) . . . 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 New Hampshire: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radials to New Hampshire 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 on the Chicago street course two weeks ago, and the last time on a short track at the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro in May . . . on short tracks, Cup teams will have 4 sets of wets available for the event . . . 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.
 
StandOnIt said:
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Makris Lobster and Steakhouse, right down the road from NHMS supplied the Loudon Lobsters for years.
Saw Kurt Busch there on a Friday night years ago, along with lots of other people associated with the industry. Everyone left everyone alone, ate their dinners, and enjoyed the atmosphere.
When the bill was due, we were informed that it was taken care of...Along with everyone else's bill in the restaurant...
To this day, I'd like to think Kurt was that generous, but I'll never know...
Just one of my many stories about Loudon...
Saw Paul Menard in the Concord Dunkin Donuts early one Saturday morning, all I said was " Good Luck". He was nice enough to say Thanks.
He's pretty tall, by the way..
 
jaqua19 said:
80% rain.

First time in my NH attending career that I can say I feel EXTREMELY confident it gets rained out.

****

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Aren't they bringing rain tires? I know they can't run in a monsoon but light rain shouldn't be a problem.
 
Daytripper said:
Aren't they bringing rain tires? I know they can't run in a monsoon but light rain shouldn't be a problem.
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Are they? It's also bringing thunder storms.

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StandOnIt said:
I'm pretty sure you have seen the new lightning rod setups they have on the cars.
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Lightning rods are a terrible idea. They'll drive up costs as teams buy wind tunnel time to determine the most aerodynamic angle to mount them.

Although they may reduce RW(sb)R cautions if they're mounted like 'curb feelers'...
 
Screenshot_20230713_165221_The Weather Channel.jpg
 
Spotter22 said:
They should just cancel but they cant. This is what happens when you dont have an open date for the rest of the season.
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I just want to clarify, my opinion has nothing to with the race, from what I hear that region is in bad shape and thousands of people are affected.
 
Thunder Road cancelled for next Thursday. I am relatively surprised this weekends* race is still happening.

*Monday's race
 
Hmm, only a 98% chance of rain? So, you're telling me there's till a chance that it doesn't rain? Be positive! I mean, if I had a 2% chance of winning the Powerball, I'd be going to every station in town to buy a ticket.
 
They should reschedule Loudon for Friday June 28th at 4:30 pm. Then run the same cars at Richmond on the 30th.
 
Greg said:
They should reschedule Loudon for Friday June 28th at 4:30 pm. Then run the same cars at Richmond on the 30th.
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They could do it and if anyone suffered a major incident they are close enough to have another sent up
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Not that it matters since NBC would laugh a 4:30 Friday slot right off the table. I'm not sure why people who make scheduling suggestions often overlook the networks' priorities
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I was thinking that is the latest they could start without track lighting
 
Spotter22 said:
I just want to clarify, my opinion has nothing to with the race, from what I hear that region is in bad shape and thousands of people are affected.
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The worst of it was in the western part of NH and into Vermont. That area is about to get rocked again. It MIGHT impact Canadian fans heading down from Quebec.

Loudon is getting some rain but will be spared the worst of it.
 
The Nature Boy said:
The worst of it was in the western part of NH and into Vermont. That area is about to get rocked again. It MIGHT impact Canadian fans heading down from Quebec.

Loudon is getting some rain but will be spared the worst of it.
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How close is Stafford to all of this stuff? They had a sold out crowd so I wondered if that area was effected
 
pjmolo said:
No lights at Loudon, correct ?
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Correct. Been talked about for 20+ years in the community. Bob Bahre the founder of the track promised the community no lights. Then SMI took over and they want/have lights at every oval they own so they didn't/don't want NHMS as an outlier.
 
Mispeedway15 said:
No way we run until Monday
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I'm telling you guys, there's a chance.

I've been going to NH since 2004, and almost half the time there's a threat of rain. The last three seasons it DID rain. In 2008 it was pouring..

There were 3 different incidents where we had 90% chance of rain and I was convinced it wasn't happening..


Not one of these races have been rained out..I think in all likelyhood, it doesn't happen.


But you all don't truly understand how inaccurate new England weather reports are. I've seen 90% chance of rain drop to 40% as close as 30 minutes before the hour.

There's a chance.

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jaqua19 said:
I'm telling you guys, there's a chance.

I've been going to NH since 2004, and almost half the time there's a threat of rain. The last three seasons it DID rain. In 2008 it was pouring..

There were 3 different incidents where we had 90% chance of rain and I was convinced it wasn't happening..


Not one of these races have been rained out..I think in all likelyhood, it doesn't happen.


But you all don't truly understand how inaccurate new England weather reports are. I've seen 90% chance of rain drop to 40% as close as 30 minutes before the hour.

There's a chance.

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Eh the setup tomorrow has already triggered flood watches with a 100% chance of rain. Cold front moving through with one of the highest forecasted humidity levels on record for the region. Predicting around 2” of rain tomorrow with 5” possible
 
They don't have to get the track dry at least. I give it a 50/50 chance of getting it in tomorrow. Weather channel says 1" of rain. That's not so much and they have rain tires.
 
Oof. 9 ran one lap and came back in it felt so bad. Chase was convinced something was broken ir he had a flat. Looks like Monday will be C Bell show.
 
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