NASCAR Cup Series – Race No. 18 – 334 laps / 501 miles
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 16 – 200 laps / 300 miles
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series – Race No. 8 – 167 laps / 251 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for July 18-19, 2020
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Cup: 9 sets for the race;
Xfinity: 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 — 19 psi; Left Rear — 19 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Storyline – It’s been “smooth” sailing recently: For the second consecutive points-paying weekend, NASCAR teams will be racing in similar conditions – intermediate-length tracks with relatively smooth track surfaces. After racing at Kentucky Speedway last week, the sport makes a stop at Texas Motor Speedway, which was repaved as recently as 2017. On newer, smoother track surfaces, tire wear generally does not happen on its own, Therefore, Goodyear designs its tread compounds to introduce wear, shedding rubber and helping the tire run at a cooler, more optimal performance level. Goodyear held two tests at Texas during 2018 and made some fundamental strides on how to introduce more wear through the tread compounds it chooses at recent repaves and smooth surfaces, like Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, et al.
“Repaved tracks create their own set of challenges for us and the teams of NASCAR,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “At places like Texas, high tire wear is not the issue, in fact it’s the opposite. After being repaved just a few seasons ago, Texas’ track surface is still very smooth, so we have to design our tread compounds to wear. Tire wear is a good thing, and is especially important on a smooth surface. When a tire wears, that means the tread is shedding rubber and allowing some of the heat generated to be dissipated from the tire. That makes the tire run cooler with better grip and performance.”
Notes – All three series on Kentucky/Las Vegas tire set-up at Texas: Teams in all three NASCAR national series in action at Texas this week will run the same tire set-up . . . this is the first time these teams have run these Goodyear tire codes at Texas, though they have run them at Kentucky last weekend and Las Vegas in February . . . these teams are also scheduled this same tire combination at Michigan next month . . . for Cup and Xfinity teams, this tire set-up features a compound change to add more grip on the left-side and a construction update on the right-side, compared to what was run at Texas last November . . . for the Trucks, they have construction updates on both sides of the car and the compound change for more grip on the left-side vs. what they ran at this track in March and June of 2019 . . . 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 —