Tire: Goodyear Eagle Superspeedway Radials
Set limits: Clash: 6 sets for the event;
Daytona 500: 8 sets for practice/qualifying/Duel + 7 sets (plus 1 transferred set) for the race;
Xfinity: 4 sets for the event;
Gander Outdoors Truck: 4 sets for the event
Tire Codes: Left-side — D-4738; Right-side — D-4740
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,237 mm (88.07 in.); Right-side — 2,247 mm (88.46 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 29 psi; Left Rear — 29 psi; Right Front — 50 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Storyline: Mechanical grip important in Daytona’s “dirty” air: In restrictor plate-style racing, being within inches of other cars virtually all the way around the track is a reality, and enhanced stability is a welcome feature to combat the buffeting of the air caused by the close-quarters racing. Goodyear refined its tire set-up for Daytona in July 2017 to give the cars more grip through the tread compounds on both sides of the car. Teams in NASCAR’s top three series will run that same set-up over the next two weeks.
“With the tight racing we have at Daytona, it requires that we build the right amount of mechanical grip into the tires to add stability,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We’ve now had three successful races on this tire set-up since we instituted it at Daytona in July of ’17, so we feel very comfortable with this tire recommendation. Having said that, we will hold a test at the Speedway right after this year’s 500 that will provide us with a lot of data as we assess our tire combination moving forward with a revised superspeedway rules package at both Daytona and Talladega.”
Notes: Fourth straight Daytona races for Cup, Xfinity on this tire set-up: Teams in NASCAR’s top three series will run the same tire set-up at Daytona this week . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that Cup and Xfinity teams have run at the Speedway since July 2017 . . . Gander Outdoors Truck teams began running the tire set-up in February 2018 . . . Daytona is the only track at which these teams run either of these two Goodyear tire codes . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, 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.
Goodyear Blimp: Airship to cover second weekend: The Goodyear Blimp “Wingfoot 1” is scheduled to be in the air over Daytona International Speedway during the second week of SpeedWeeks . . . Wingfoot 1, based out of Pompano Beach, Fla., will provide aerial coverage for Fox Sports at the Xfinity race on Saturday (February 16) and Daytona 500 on Sunday (February 17).
Upcoming tire test: Three teams set to test Daytona in the days after the 500: Goodyear will hold a tire test at Daytona International Speedway on the Monday and Tuesday (February 18-19) after this year’s Daytona 500 . . . organizations participating in the session include Richard Childress Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.
