Goodyear Fast Facts: Bristol Motor Speedway

April 10, 2018

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Race No. 8 – Food City 500
NASCAR Xfinity Series, Race No. 7 – Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300

Mini-speedway at Bristol provides concrete challenge: There are two important factors at Bristol Motor Speedway, (1) it is a short track that actually races like a speedway, and (2) its concrete surface.  The steep banking and speeds seen at Bristol are certainly not characteristic of most short tracks.  As a result, the tire set-up must be able to handle the loads generated while optimizing handling.  As for the concrete, the tread compounds Goodyear brings to Bristol are designed to lay the appropriate amount of rubber down on the smooth surface.  Goodyear tested at Bristol last September, and while both the left- and right-side compounds remain the same as last year’s races, it will bring an updated right-side construction which is becoming  the standard at all speedways.
    
“Bristol provides several challenges when designing and building a tire set-up,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “It’s important to rubber-in the concrete surface, and the compounds we run do that both quickly and to the proper degree.  Bristol is also very much like a speedway in that the high banks generate a lot of speed and a high amount of loading.  The tire set-up that we bring takes that into account while enhancing the stability and handling of the cars through the corners.”
 
Goodyear brings updated right-side construction to Bristol: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will run the same Goodyear tire set-up at Bristol, the only track at which NASCAR teams are scheduled to run either of these two tire codes, this is the same left-side tire code that NASCAR teams have run at Bristol since August ’14, and a new right-side code that features the same tread compound, but incorporates a construction update to line it up with what is run at other speedways. This tire set-up came out of a Goodyear test at the track last September with  drivers Ty Dillon and Erik Jones (in the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing car).

Unlike on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, on which teams generally do not run inner liners in their tires, teams are required to run liners in their right-side tires only at Bristol. The air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

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