NASCAR Cup Series – Race No. 17 – 267 laps / 400.5 miles
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 14 – 134 laps / 201 miles
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 15 – 200 laps / 300 miles
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series – Race No. 7 – 150 laps / 225 miles
Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Sparta, Ky.
Fast Facts for July 9-12, 2020
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Cup: 8 sets for the race;
Xfinity – Thursday: 5 sets for the event;
Xfinity – Friday: 5 sets for the event;
Truck: 4 sets for the event
Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-4976;
Right-side — D-4978
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,224 mm (87.56 in.);
Right-side — 2,252 mm (88.66 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 18 psi; Left Rear — 18 psi;
Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Storyline – Aligning tire set-ups at “smooth” tracks: The tire set-up teams in all three of NASCAR’s national series will run at Kentucky Speedway this week marks a move to align similar track surfaces. These teams ran this same combination of tires earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which has traditionally not worn tires at a high rate. Surfaces like Kentucky, Michigan International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway – all tracks that have been repaved in recent years – react similarly in that they create minimal tire wear. Goodyear formulates its tread compounds to specifically introduce wear on these types of surfaces. Additionally important this week, any tire wear that can be generated will help tires run cooler and more optimally. The Cup Series race will be on Sunday afternoon this week, as compared to Saturday night last season. That will affect grip, so a move to a more tractive left side compound will help with that. Also, running the same tire set-up on similar tracks gives teams a chance to build a notebook as the season moves on.
“Last year, we integrated a compound change to the right-side tire at Kentucky to increase wear, and have followed that up with a change to the left-side to add grip for this weekend,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “There are a couple areas of focus when we race at these tracks with ultra-smooth surfaces, like Kentucky, Texas and Michigan. One is to monitor the grip level from year to year so we keep up with the track aging process. The other is to manage the heat generated through the tires. The grip created by these tracks results in a lot of speed and that speed, in turn, leads to heat. Making sure we bring tires that wear and shed rubber helps dissipate that heat, and enables the tire run at a more optimal level.”
Notes – New tire set-up for all series at Kentucky: Teams in all three NASCAR national series in action at Kentucky this week will run the same tire set-up . . . this is the first time these teams have run these Goodyear tire codes at Kentucky, though they have run them at Las Vegas earlier this season . . . in addition to those two tracks, all NASCAR national series teams will run this same tire combination at Michigan and Texas in 2020 . . . compared to what was run at this track last season, this tire set-up features a construction update on both sides and a compound change to add more grip on the left-side . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run liners in all four tire positions at Kentucky . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear Racing —