Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 34 – AAA Texas 500
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 31 – O’Reilly Auto Parts 300
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for November 1-3, 2019
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 10 sets for the race (9 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying or practice);
Xfinity: 7 sets for the event
Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-4954;
Right-side — D-4796
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.);
Right-side – 2,251 mm (88.62 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 22 psi; Left Rear — 22 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 50 psi
Storyline – Why tire wear is important on a “smooth” track like Texas: Track repaves, like the one Texas went through before the 2017 season, create a racing environment that poses several challenges – (1) fresh asphalt has a lot of grip, which generates a lot of speed and heat in the tires, (2) a new surface is relatively smooth and doesn’t allow tires to shed rubber, which could also cause heat problems, and (3) because little rubber gets worked into the track, it is harder to create multiple racing grooves. To address that, Goodyear has designed its Texas right-side tire to wear more and run cooler. The other response at Texas is the application of the traction compound PJ1. Goodyear and NASCAR will work together to measure the grip level of the track surface throughout the weekend. At Texas – where the bottom lane is the preferred groove — PJ1 will be applied above that to help give drivers a viable second lane.
“Since its repave a couple years ago, Texas is one of the more ‘smooth’ surfaces we race on in NASCAR,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The right-side tire we bring to Texas is the same one we’ve run at other tracks where we want to introduce wear or rubber-in the track. The track will also apply PJ1 to the surface this weekend to help create a second groove and give drivers options. As PJ1 has come to be used more this season, Goodyear and NASCAR have been working on measuring the grip level of the racing surfaces, both inside and outside of the application area. We are learning a lot about what works and how the grip level changes throughout a race weekend.”
Notes – Cup, Xfinity cars on new left-side tire at Texas: Teams in both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will run the same tire set-up at Texas this weekend . . . while these teams ran this right-side tire code at Texas in April, this is a new left-side code . . . compared to what was run at Texas this spring, this left-side tire features a construction update similar to what has been rolled into many tracks already this season . . . in addition to Texas, these teams have run this particular right-side tire code at code at Kansas, Kentucky, Las Vegas and Michigan this season . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run liners in all four tire positions at Texas . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear Racing —