NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 18 – 301 laps / 318.5 miles New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval) – Loudon, N.H.
Fast Facts for July 22-23, 2024
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Cup – 1 set for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 8 sets for the race (7 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5208; Right-side — D-5220
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,249 mm (88.54 in.); Right-side — 2,276 mm (89.61 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 14 psi; Left Rear — 14 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 26 psi
Storyline – Goodyear continues work on short track package at New Hampshire: In spite of New Hampshire Motor Speedway being just a tick longer than one mile in length, it fits into the short track group of race tracks. It has been widely documented that the sport of NASCAR has been working on the short track package with this Next Gen car, and Goodyear’s continuing efforts at New Hampshire show that. Goodyear tested at the Loudon-based track in April 2023 and produced a tire set-up with more tractive tread compounds for last year’s race. For this year, Goodyear has a new set-up that has integrated into it increased tread thickness, which is designed to keep more heat in the tires and lead to more fall-off over the course of a run. As lap times fall off, it leads to more comers and goers and more passing throughout the field. As always, left-side air pressures will also be important at New Hampshire. With minimum recommended pressures at 14 psi on the left-side, teams that go much below that risk damaging the sidewall of the tire by over-deflection that could result in air loss.
“NASCAR teams have always been in a search for grip at Loudon,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We’ve made a couple adjustments for our tire set-up for this track over the past year-plus, as we continue to work on the short track racing package. After adding more grip at Loudon in ’23 with a tread compound change, we’ve rolled in a change that we have on all of the short tracks for this season by increasing the tread gage. That move helps the tire maintain more heat over a run which will, in turn, lead to more fall-off and more passing.”
Notes – Change to Cup tire set-up at New Hampshire: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at New Hampshire this week . . . this is a different combination of left- and right-side tires Cup teams ran at New Hampshire last season, though they have run this set-up at both North Wilkesboro and Iowa this season . . . they have also run this left-side tire code with a different right-side at Phoenix, Richmond and Gateway this season . . . compared to what Cup teams ran at New Hampshire last year, both this left-side and right-side tire have more gage (tread thickness) . . . the thicker gage gives the cars more grip and helps keep some heat in the tire to increase lap-time fall-off over the course of a run . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.
Wet Weather Tires – Goodyear to bring wet weather tires to New Hampshire: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radial tires to NHMS for the NASCAR Cup cars, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams will have a maximum of 4 sets of wet weather tires for the event . . . NASCAR Cup teams last ran a wet weather tire in competition at Richmond in April . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.
NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 16 – 200 laps / 211.6 miles New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval) – Loudon, N.H.
Fast Facts for July 21-22, 2024
Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials
Set limits: Xfinity: 5 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6114; Right-side — D-6116
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,218 mm (87.32 in.); Right-side — 2,244 mm (88.35 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 12 psi; Left Rear — 12 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 27 psi
Notes – Third season on this tire set-up for Xfinity cars at New Hampshire: Being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series at New Hampshire this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires these teams have run at New Hampshire since 2022 . . . this is also the same tire set-up these teams ran at Phoenix and Richmond earlier this season . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at New Hampshire.
Wet Weather Tires – Goodyear has wet weather tires on hand at New Hampshire: Goodyear will bring its 15-inch wet weather radial tires to NHMS for the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Xfinity teams will have 3 sets of wets available for the event . . . Xfinity teams last ran in wet conditions on the Indianapolis road course last August, and has not yet run in the wet on a short track . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.
— Goodyear Racing —