NASCAR Cup Series – Race No. 34 – 334 laps / 501 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for October 25, 2020
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup: 9 sets for the race
Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-4976;
Right-side — D-4986
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 – Building a notebook benefits teams: Having run this same tire combination at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late-September, as well as this relatively new right-side tire code at Kansas Speedway last week, NASCAR Cup teams are starting to build up a notebook on this set-up. That is especially important with no practice time on the schedule and as we get deeper into the playoffs. Texas Motor Speedway was repaved in 2017 and is one of the ‘smoother’ tracks on the NASCAR circuit. Because of that, Goodyear designs its tread compounds to introduce tire wear to help the tires run cooler. This will be a different tire set-up than what the Cup cars ran in their last race at Texas in July, with the same left-side tire but with that different right-side that was introduced at Las Veas and run again at Kansas. This right-side will give the cars more grip and will wear a bit more, despite Texas’ smooth surface.
“Since its repave a few years back, the smooth surface at Texas has provided a challenge in that it does not wear tires on its own,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We have aligned several similar tracks that don’t naturally wear tires – Texas, Las Vegas and Kansas – and bring tread compounds that introduce some wear. Like we said for Kansas last week, getting tires to wear is a good thing. Tires that wear will run cooler because they shed rubber over the course of a run and dissipate heat out through the tread. Cup teams having run this right-side tire at Kansas last week and this same tire combination at Las Vegas four weeks ago is obviously an advantage because they can build a notebook on what to expect and have some experience on how these tires will react on these low wear tracks.”
Notes – Cup re-aligns Texas with Las Vegas tire set-up: While teams in all three NASCAR national series will run the same left-side tire code at Texas this week, those in the Cup Series will run a different right-side code than those in the Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series . . . this is the same left-side tire code Cup teams ran at Texas earlier this season, but with a different right-side code . . . compared to what was run at Texas in July, this right-side tire features a compound change to give the cars more grip . . . Cup teams ran this same combination of left- and right-side tires at Las Vegas-2 last month . . . they also ran this right-side tire code at Kansas-2 last week, and this left-side code at Kentucky and Michigan in 2020 . . . 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.
NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 31 – 200 laps / 300 miles
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series – Race No. 22 – 147 laps / 220.5 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for October 24-25, 2020
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
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
Notes – Xfinity, Trucks return to Texas on same tire set-up: While teams in all three NASCAR national series will run the same left-side tire code at Texas this week, those in the Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will run a different right-side code than those in the Cup Series . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires Xfinity and Truck teams ran at Texas in July . . . teams in these two series have also run this same tire set-up at 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 —