Goodyear Fast Facts — Daytona — Next Gen Car Debuts in NASCAR Cup Series; Goodyear Develops 18-inch Wheel Diameter Tire

NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 1 – 200 laps / 500 milesDaytona International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) – Daytona Beach, Fla.Fast Facts for February 15-20, 2022

 

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Superspeedway Radials

 

Set limits: Cup: 7 sets for practice/qualifying/Duel,

     and 8 sets for the race (7 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

 

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5142; Right-side — D-5116

 

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,274 mm (89.53 in.); Right-side — 2,280 mm (89.76 in.)

 

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 28 psi; Left Rear — 28 psi;

     Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 50 psi

 

Storyline – Historic day as Cup teams move to 18-inch bead diameter tire: Although the NASCAR Cup Series debuted its Next Gen car in The Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum two weekends ago, this week’s event at Daytona International Speedway is the first points-paying race for the car, and for Goodyear’s new 18-inch bead diameter tire.

 

Please see below the NASCAR Xfinity/Camping World Truck Series Fast Facts on this e-mail for a complete story on Goodyear’s development of the new 18-inch tire.

 

Notes – New Daytona/Talladega tire debuts this week: Moving to the 18-inch bead diameter tire for the 2022 season, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series at Daytona this week . . . in addition to the obvious construction changes, these tires will also feature different tread compounds than the Cup cars ran at Daytona last year (more grip) . . . with this 18-inch bead diameter tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars will not run inner liners in any of their tires in 2022.

 

Goodyear Blimp – Airship to cover Thursday-Sunday events: The Goodyear Blimp “Wingfoot Two” is scheduled to be in the air over Daytona International Speedway this week . . . Wingfoot Two, based out of Pompano Beach, Fla., will provide aerial coverage for Fox Sports during the NASCAR Cup Duels on Thursday, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday, NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday and the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

 

Follow us on Twitter: @GoodyearRacing.

 

Contact: Mike Siberini, Goodyear Racing Public Relations – 704-905-3309 (C).

 

 

 

GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES

 

NASCAR Xfinity Series — Race No. 1 – 120 laps / 300 miles

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — Race No. 1 – 100 laps / 250 milesDaytona International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) – Daytona Beach, Fla.Fast Facts for February 17-19, 2022

 

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Superspeedway Radials

 

Set limits: Xfinity: 4 sets for the race;     Truck: 4 sets for the race

 

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6102; Right-side — D-6104

 

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,232 mm (87.87 in.); Right-side — 2,250 mm (88.58 in.)

 

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 26 psi; Left Rear — 26 psi;

     Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi

 

Notes –Xfinity, Trucks on two new tire codes at Daytona: Teams in the NASCAR Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series will run the same tire set-up at Daytona this week . . . these are two new Goodyear tire codes, with construction updates on both sides of the car to bring these tires more in line with what is run on mile-and-a-half tracks . . . the compounds on both the right-side and left-side are the same as Daytona 2021 . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, Xfinity and Truck teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Daytona . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

 

Follow us on Twitter: @GoodyearRacing.

 

Next Gen Car Debuts in NASCAR Cup Series; Goodyear Develops 18-inch Wheel Diameter Tire

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season marks the highly anticipated debut of the Next Gen car.  For the sport, and specifically for Goodyear, it also means the move to a new tire on an 18-inch diameter wheel after decades of running on a 15-inch diameter wheel.

It has been a colossal undertaking for all involved, with more than two years of testing and development.

“The move to Next Gen is certainly the most significant change to the Cup Series vehicle in decades,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “A successful redesign the magnitude of Next Gen is a huge project, and one that has required the coordinated effort of the entire industry.  The cooperation among NASCAR, the OEMs, the race teams and Goodyear has been key throughout the project, from defining critical design parameters early on, to aligning on performance at every test along the way.”

It has been several decades since Goodyear has helped lead such an impactful change in the sport.

“In the early 1990s, Goodyear led the change from bias to radial tires, which enabled an evolution of the vehicle over several years,” said Stucker.  “But Next Gen is a wholesale redesign, impacting all parts of the vehicle, from chassis configuration, to suspension, to aerodynamic elements, to tires and wheels.”

NASCAR deciding to completely redesign its Cup Series car gave the sport the chance to program in a lot of advancements that will help teams on the track, but will also update the look of the cars to more closely resemble what the sport’s fans drive on the street.

“Incorporating an 18-inch bead diameter tire into the Next Gen design is a major element of the project,” said Stucker.  “The desire for the larger bead diameter is consistent with the theme of maintaining the OE relevancy of the vehicle design. The 18-inch diameter tires on Camaros, Mustangs and Camrys are the norm in dealer showrooms.”

That opportunity also presented a challenge – designing a low-profile tire that will fit the new Cup car while still being able to handle the loads it generates.

“The shorter sidewall of the lower profile tire affects the tire’s ability to carry load, the major challenge to overcome in the design process,” said Stucker.  “Although 18-inch bead diameter racing tires have been around for years, Goodyear is the first tire company to develop such a tire for the high, sustained load duty cycle of a Cup Series vehicle in the environment of oval track racing.”

And that challenge had to be met by a monumental engineering effort by Goodyear, whose racing history goes back to the beginning of the 20th Century and has continually evolved and advanced for more than 120 years.

“There has been a continuous effort of tire modeling, tire builds and lab testing to develop the constructions that provide the necessary on-track performance,” said Mark Keto, Goodyear’s NASCAR project manager.  “The biggest challenge has been maintaining the necessary flexibility to change quickly as the new car evolved.  The learning curve has been steep with NASCAR and the race teams, and the performance requirements changed along with that.  As the teams learned what the car needed from a set-up standpoint, the tire performance targets changed and we had to adapt.

“We have worked closely with the teams and OEMs throughout the process to understand what parameters the tires will see on the race track.  Teams regularly provide car simulation feedback to Goodyear that we use to modify our in-house tire testing in the lab.  The tire constructions were then able to be refined to meet the necessary performance requirements before they ever saw the race track.”

The 18-inch bead diameter tire has seen quite a bit of track time before the 2022 ever got here.  At-track testing for this project stretches back three seasons.

“Between Goodyear tire tests, OEM wheel force tests and NASCAR organizational tests, there have been more than 30 at-track tests to prepare for the Next Gen car,” said Keto.  “The first test was at Richmond back in October of 2019.  The test schedule was developed through a collaborative effort between Goodyear, NASCAR and the OEMs.  Goodyear’s input into what tracks were necessary for testing was based on our experience in knowing what tracks typically utilize similar construction and compound set-ups.  NASCAR and the OEMs also had input based on necessary testing for car development and gathering useful data for all of the different types of tracks.  We all worked closely in the development of the overall and individual test plans to make sure we were successful in our desired learnings.”

And while Goodyear had to put the design, engineering and testing programs in place, the company also had to incorporate some re-tooling at its Akron, Ohio-based manufacturing facility, as well as it’s mounting and distribution facilities.

“Equal to the challenge of designing and developing the 18-inch tire for Next Gen, was ensuring we had the manufacturing capability and capacity to produce the product, and the mounting and balancing equipment to service it,” said Stucker.  “Goodyear has produced 18-inch race tires for years, but not in the volume necessary to support the needs of the NASCAR Cup Series.  This meant a multi-million dollar investment in our facilities at Innovation Center Manufacturing, to expand the capabilities of every part of the production process.

“Likewise, service of an 18-inch tire and aluminum wheel assembly requires a change to the most appropriate mounting and balancing equipment at both our pre-mount facility in Cornelius, N.C., as well as the at-track service operations for all events.”

At the end of the day, one can only think of the old adage – “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  While Cup teams will race on a new tire for the 2022 season, Goodyear will maintain its presence at the track every week, with its continued excellence and commitment to the sport of NASCAR.

Goodyear PR