Goodyear Fast Facts: Kansas Speedway

Oct. 18, 2017

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Race No. 32 – Hollywood Casino 400
NASCAR Xfinity Series, Race No. 30 – Kansas Lottery 300

Multi-zone Tread Tire Offers Multi-purpose Solution: Goodyear’s multi-zone
right-side tire accomplishes two prime tasks – one for each compound across the tread.

Because of the camber rules NASCAR Cup teams compete under, the cars run on a full
contact patch through the banked corners but only on the inboard inch or two of the
right-front tire down the flatter straightaways. That results in that portion of the tire
handling a great amount of the abuse and heat generated on a lap at speed.  Because
of that, and to protect the tire, Goodyear runs a more wear and heat resistant compound
on the inboard two inches of the tread. To counter-balance that and give the cars more
grip in the corners, Goodyear runs a second, more tractive compound across the outboard
10 inches of the tread. With the low downforce rules under which Cup teams now compete,
having that grip from the outboard compound is crucial.
    
“By running the compound we do on the inboard ‘Endurance Zone’ of the right-side tire,
it enables us to give the cars a more tractive compound on the outboard ‘Grip Zone,’” said
Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “This really comes into play at fast tracks like
Kansas. With the speeds these cars are running and the camber settings in the front end,
that generates a lot of heat in the tire, which shows up most on the inboard of the right-front.
Protecting that area frees us up to give maximum grip with the outboard. 

Another thing about the Kansas tire set-up is the grip improvement we brought with the left-side compound starting with the May race. As we’ve moved forward with NASCAR’s lower downforce rules
package, we’ve been able to add grip on that side of the car as well.”
 
Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series teams will run the same tire set-up at Kansas this week that the Cup teams ran at this track in May, teams in both of these series have also run this left-side tire code at Charlotte this season.

For Xfinity teams, this is the first time they have run this tire set-up at Kansas. The main differences from last year’s Xfinity tire combination are a compound change on the left-side (more grip) and the move to a multi-zone tread right-side (ran single compound right-side at Kansas in 2016).

On all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions. At Kansas the air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.