Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 26 – Brickyard 400
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 25 – Lilly Diabetes 250
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval) – Indianapolis, Ind.
Fast Facts for September 7-9, 2018
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Cup: 3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 8 sets for the race;
Xfinity: 6 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-4744; Right-side — D-4710
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,227 mm (87.68 in.);
Right-side — 2,241 mm (88.23 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 18 psi; Left Rear – 18 psi;
Right Front — 42 psi; Right Rear — 38 psi
Storyline – Lateral loads, diamond-grooved surface provide stiff test at IMS: The “Brickyard” always provides one of the most difficult challenges on tires. The Speedway’s combination of high speeds, long straightaways, minimal banking, high lateral loads and the diamond-grooved surface all wreak havoc with tires on a 3,400-lb stock car. Testing at Indianapolis has become a regular stop on the Goodyear testing schedule, and that held true with a session in June that confirmed this tire set-up.
“The tire combination we’re bringing to Indianapolis — which are the same tire codes we brought last year — will provide a good combination of rubbering-in the race track and giving the cars grip,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “This track has historically been tough on tires in NASCAR. These cars are heavy and have high lateral loads with relatively no banking to lean on. That combines with the abrasive track surface to wear tires quickly. Being able to rubber-in the grooves in the track will help ease that wear as the race weekend goes along.”
Notes – Cup, Xfinity cars return to IMS on same tire set-up: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will run the same tire set-up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires these teams ran at IMS last season . . . this tire set-up was confirmed at a Goodyear test at the Speedway on June 26-27 . . . drivers participating in that test were Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suarez . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams will run inner liners in all four tire positions at Indianapolis . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear Racing —