Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Race No. 2 – Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
NASCAR Xfinity Series, Race No. 2 – Rinnai 250
Goodyear brings multi-zone tread tire “home” to Atlanta: Goodyear will run its multi-zone tread right-side tire at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is the track at which this tire debuted in 2013. The multi-zone tire features two distinct compounds across the same tread, the two-inch Endurance Zone that is tougher and can withstand more heat and wear, and the 10-inch outboard Traction Zone that offers more grip.
Atlanta provides a tough challenge for tires with its abrasive track surface and long turns. With fall-off likely to be more than three seconds per lap over the course of a run, teams will often choose to “short-pit” in advance of a 50-lap fuel window to take advantage of fresh rubber. In the Cup Series, with 11 race sets of tires in addition to the qualifying set teams will start on, there will be a lot of pit stops. Being early in the season with the new pit rules (with one less crew member over the wall and the new pit gun) pit road will go a long way in deciding the race winner.
“Atlanta is unquestionably one of the toughest challenges we face from a tire standpoint,” said Greg Stucker. “The first thing about Atlanta is the track surface, which is very abrasive. To go along with that, it is extremely fast with its long, sweeping turns. Bringing the multi-zone right-side to Atlanta is critical as the Traction Zone helps the cars grip that worn out surface, while the Endurance Zone adds heat resistance and some wear resistance to the inboard portion of the tread that takes the most abuse. The bottom line result of this is good, competitive racing. Tire management will come into play as some drivers will be faster earlier in the run, while others will conserve their tires and be faster later. That creates a lot of passing throughout the field.”
The Cup and Xfinity teams return to Atlanta on same tire set-up.
While teams in all three NASCAR Series will run the same right-side tire code (D-4682) at Atlanta this week, those in the Cup and Xfinity Series will run a different left-side code than those in the Camping World Truck Series.
Atlanta is the only track at which these teams are scheduled to run either of these two tire codes in 2018.
On all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run liners in all four tire positions, at Atlanta the air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
