Goodyear Fast Facts — Daytona

NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 1 – 200 laps / 500 milesDaytona International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) – Daytona Beach, Fla.Fast Facts for February 15-19, 2023

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 – Cup teams open second season on 18-inch bead diameter tire: After the debut of Goodyear’s 18-inch bead diameter tire last season, the work continues in 2023.  Please see below the NASCAR Xfinity/Craftsman Truck Series Fast Facts on this e-mail for a complete story on Goodyear’s continued development of the 18-inch tire.

Notes – Cup teams return on Daytona/Talladega tire set-up: Being on an 18-inch bead diameter tire, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires Cup teams ran twice at Daytona last season . . . they also ran this same tire set-up twice at Talladega in 2022 . . . 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 2023.

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 Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup Series’ Daytona 500 on Sunday.

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GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES

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

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series — Race No. 1 – 100 laps / 250 milesDaytona International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) – Daytona Beach, Fla.Fast Facts for February 17-18, 2023

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Superspeedway Radials

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

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

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,229 mm (87.76 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 return to Daytona on same tire set-up: Teams in the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series will run the same tire set-up at Daytona this week . . . being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, Xfinity and Truck teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires these teams ran at both Daytona and Talladega last season . . . 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.

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GOODYEAR BUILDS OFF SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF 18-INCH TIRE PROGRAM

The 2022 season was an historic one for the sport of NASCAR.  Not only did the sanctioning body roll out its highly anticipated Next Gen car for its premier Cup Series, but Goodyear developed a brand new, 18-inch bead diameter tire as part of the redesign.

“In addition to developing an all new tire for the all new Next Gen platform, equally as challenging was educating the garage on the attributes and characteristics of this new tire package,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “Teams had developed an extensive playbook on the 15-inch tire over many years.  The new tire, being wider and with much less sidewall height, performs differently. We conducted a great deal of testing to characterize the tire to start the season, and throughout the year as car set-ups evolved, and teams developed a new playbook for the new tire size.  Communication and collaboration between Goodyear and the teams was never more important than in 2022.”

Having a plan early-on in the process put the project on the right course.  After that, all participating parties worked together as an industry to advance the efforts.

“After the initial dimensions of the new tire size and car specifications were decided, a dual development process began that utilized both FEA analysis of new designs and tire build iterations for lab testing,” explained Mark Keto, Goodyear’s NASCAR project manager.  “The design evolution is an iterative process that begins well before any track testing occurs.  As the car was going through the development process, the tires also evolved to handle the changing performance requirements.

“NASCAR, the OEMs and Goodyear worked together to decide the overall dimensions of the tire/wheel assembly to achieve the desired look of the new car, while also considering the overall potential performance provided by the new tire size.  NASCAR provided expected car specifications that allowed us to begin the tire development process based on expected performance parameters of the new car design.  We also utilized data from the OEMs and NASCAR to develop the testing parameters used to measure the tire performance in our test lab.”

Once lab testing was established and at-track testing began with the new car and tire, things naturally began to evolve.

“Initially, many different design ideas were investigated with a focus on meeting the expected performance requirements as defined by NASCAR and the OEMs,” said Keto.  “As the process moved forward and track testing began, the design changes became more focused on fine-tuning the final constructions and compound requirements for the different types of tracks and track surfaces.

“Because of the heavy testing schedule with the Next Gen car in the fall of 2021, we had a good understanding of expected tire performance leading into the season, compared to the Gen 6 car and the 15-inch tire set-up,”

Finally, after all the testing, development and modifications, it was time to get on track for points paying races last February, and that’s when the evaluation began.

“The car set-ups evolved quickly as the teams learned what set-up changes offered improved performance,” said Keto.  “We were continually working to improve the performance of the tires so the tire set-ups could evolve as the car set-ups evolved and the performance parameters changed.  We tested in the first half of the ’22 season at Charlotte, Pocono and Michigan and developed a new right-side construction we rolled into many tracks starting in July.”

That set up Goodyear for a busy “off” season, evaluating all of 2022 and preparing for 2023.

“The tire line-up is continuing to evolve based on what we learned last year,” said Keto.  “The introduction of the new car led to some great racing early in 2022.  The teams were basically starting with blank note books at the start of the season and the car set-ups evolved quickly as a result.  Now that the industry has a year of learning with the new car, we’ll be able to further refine the tire set-ups to adapt to what the teams need for continued success on the race track.

“What we confirmed was that the wider, 18-inch tire provides a grip improvement and lower running temperature than the 15-inch counterpart.  As a result, we were able to soften up the compounds to further improve grip while maintaining optimum wear rates and operating temperatures.”

And all that continues to yield results, with specific enhancements planned for the coming season.

“A new road course set up will be introduced for the 2023 season, based on testing at COTA in January of 2023.  The new set-up provides a grip improvement and an increased wear rate and was developed based on feedback from the drivers to improve competition on the race track.  Tire tests are also planned for early-2023 at North Wilkesboro, Charlotte, Gateway and Michigan to further develop new designs and compounds.”

Overall, the Next Gen / 18-inch bead diameter tire program was a monumental undertaking for the sport.  All parties worked together to accomplish the goal – great racing on the track.  That “all hands on deck” approach was imperative then and continues into 2023 and beyond.

“Everything we do is a collaborative effort with NASCAR, the OEMs and the competitors,” concluded Stucker.  “Through the development effort of the new car, that collaboration is at an all-time high.  We all share the same goal of making the on-track racing product the best it can be.  Goodyear relies heavily on driver and team feedback to identify tire development opportunities, and we utilize data from the teams and OEMs to develop performance parameters for the tire set-ups.  Those parameters are constantly evolving, so the collaboration is important to keep the development effort moving forward.”

Goodyear Racing PR