NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 29 – 500 laps / 266.5 miles
Bristol Motor Speedway (0.533-mile oval) – Bristol, Tenn.
Fast Facts for September 20-21, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Speedway Radials

Set limits: Cup: 2 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 11 sets for the race(10 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5170; Right-side — D-5206

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,254 mm (88.74 in.); Right-side — 2,276 mm (89.61 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
left Front — 16 psi; Left Rear — 18 psi;
Right Front — 46 psi; Right Rear — 44 psi

Storyline – Goodyear returns to Bristol on spring tire set-up; tire management will be key: The spring NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway was a revelation.  While running the same tire set-up as the previous fall’s race, the track did not take rubber and tires continued to wear heavily throughout March’s 500-lap race.  Goodyear followed up that event with a test at Bristol on July 16-17 to understand what led to the high wear.  Six teams participated in that test, those of drivers Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Corey Lajoie and John Hunter Nemechek.  With mid-summer temperatures higher than what they were at the race in March, there was a possibility that the track would take rubber more easily at the test, but that did not happen.  With that, the remaining variable versus the September 2023 race that featured the same tire set-up and a track that took rubber was the track preparation and choice of traction compound.  In September 2023 the track was prepared with PJ1, while it was prepared with resin earlier this year.  That change proved to be the chief factor in what we saw this March.  Since the response to that race was so positive, It was decided that we go back this week with the same set-up and track conditions.  Now that teams better know what to expect, tire management will be the key for drivers.  Tires will wear, but those that manage their rubber best will surely gain later in a run and pass drivers whose tires have been run harder and fallen off more.

“After all the work the sport’s stakeholders have put in on the Next Gen car and the short track package, the spring race at Bristol will go down as a day that really moved the needle,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “We have always said at Goodyear that we want to bring set-ups with the most grip possible while having a set of tires go a full fuel run.  When we had the high wear race at Bristol in March, and saw the response from all involved, it really opened up the possibilities of what we could do.  The bottom line is . . . tire wear is good for racing.  Drivers like that tire management is a factor and that they play a bigger part in the race, it’s a challenge for teams to come up with a well balanced car set-up and fans get treated to more passing on the track.”

Notes – Third straight Bristol Cup race on this tire set-up: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol this week . . . this tire set-up debuted on the Cup cars at Bristol in September 2023 . . . while this right-side tire code is unique to Bristol, Cup teams ran this left-side code at Dover in April . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.

Wet Weather Tires – Goodyear bringing wet weather tires to Bristol for first time: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radial tires to Bristol for the NASCAR Cup cars, should NASCAR determine that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams will have a maximum of 4 sets of wet weather tires for the event . . . NASCAR Cup teams last ran the wet weather tire in competition at Chicago in July, and last ran it on a short track at New Hampshire in June . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.

NASCAR Xfinity Series – Race No. 26 – 300 laps / 160 miles
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – Race No. 18 – 200 laps / 106.6 miles

Bristol Motor Speedway (0.533-mile oval) – Bristol, Tenn.

Fast Facts for September 19-20, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 15-inch Speedway Radials

Set limits: Xfinity: 5 sets for the event;
Craftsman Truck: 5 sets for the event

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-6106; Right-side — D-6132

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.); Right-side — 2,250 mm (88.58 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 20 psi; Left Rear — 18 psi;
Right Front — 45 psi; Right Rear — 40 psi

Notes – Xfinity wraps up regular season, Trucks continue playoffs on established tire set-up: Being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series at Bristol this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that teams in both of these series have run on the Bristol concrete since September 2022 . . . unlike on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, Xfinity and Truck teams will run inner liners in their right-side tires only at Bristol . . . air pressure in the liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

Wet Weather Tires – White-lettered tires on hand: Goodyear will bring its 15-inch wet weather radials to Bristol for use by Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series teams, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . Xfinity and Truck teams will have 3 sets of wets available for the events. . . Xfinity teams last ran in wet conditions at New Hampshire in June, while Truck teams last ran in the wet at Martinsville last season . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.

— Goodyear Racing —