By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Goodyear will be conducting a tire test at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in preparation for the 2018 fall race.
Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear, met with a small group of reporters prior to the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway to discuss the test this week.
The tire test will include Martin Truex, Jr., Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, and Daniel Hemric. Part of the first day of testing will be in collaboration with NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway about the design and location of the chicane on the backstretch. There are three different chicane designs that will be tested.
“The first part is going to be sorting through the backstretch chicane. There is about three different options to look at,” Stucker stated. “The morning of the first day is going to be looking at those three different configurations between NASCAR and the race track to see what the best option is. That will take a little bit of time.”
Once the chicane design is set, Goodyear will begin conducting short run tests on the tire combinations. On the second day of testing, Goodyear will conduct longer runs to see how the tires wear. This is standard procedure for Goodyear.
With the addition of chicanes, Goodyear will be using their road course configuration, as standard for all road-courses across the three national series. The compound used at Watkins Glen will be the first compound to be tested due to the speeds at Charlotte being nearly the same. Based on the runs of the compound, Goodyear will look at how to add more grip.
“It’s our standard road course construction that we run at all the road course, but it has a little bit firmer compound than what everything else does just because of the repave at Watkins Glen. That is where we will start,” said Stucker. “You know this is going to be, from the speed perspective, closer to the Glen than it would be at like Sonoma. We will see how will we can come down in compound and generate little more grip. We will stay through the standard road course construction.”
Although the track design is new to the NASCAR circuit, Goodyear will continue normal operating procedure during the tire test.
“We will get tire temperatures, look at data from the cars, and kinda see what speeds we are running. Obviously, get a lot of driver feedback. From a grip level, how are we. You read all the standard stuff. You take driver comments, data, look at temperatures, look at tires and how they wear. You make the right decision based on all that info.”
Stucker believes that the addition of the two chicanes will make everyone in the garage more comfortable using a road course set up compared to completely unknown set up. He also predicts that speeds will range from 30 to 35 mph in the infield portion of the track; while entering the chicane, drivers will be at 160 to 175 mph. Without the chicanes, drivers would use all but about 300 feet of the 1.5-mile layout. Stucker reaffirmed Goodyears commitment to bringing a tire that will handle the speed variations.
Goodyear will also be using a rain tire. Under the original format of the road course, Goodyear would have had to bring a hybrid rain tire to handle the speeds. Luckily, with the chicane addition, Goodyear will be able to bring the standard rain tire. The original layout would have required a closed-up pattern or a harder compound.
“I think were on more of a true road course configuration and that a rain tire makes a whole lot more sense. It will be the standard rain tire,” Stucker stated.
Stucker hopes that this is the only time they will need to test a tire compound for the road course. With things being tested from a tire stand point nearly a year out, there is time in the schedule to do so, but the goal is to move from a tire test to an organizational or full-field test with the appropriate tire configuration.
“We got time in the schedule to run this one. If we need to go back, then we will. The goal is to have an organizational or full field test sometime next year prior to the race. We want to get on the racetrack, hopefully getting the tire nailed down so everyone knows what it is going to be. That way we will have tires available so that when people go test, they will have what they need from a tire perspective.”