The upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will feature the softest tire compound at that track since the unveil of the NextGen car in 2022.
Specifically, the right side tires will be the option tire compounds used in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro and the summer race at Richmond but Goodyear is going even softer on the left sides.
This is all part of the strategy to improve short track racing at the highest level of the discipline, especially at the relatively flat Virginia half-mile, which has been most affected by the current platform.
This car makes a lot of mechanical grip with its wider low profile tires but also produces a lot of aerodynamic wake due to its high drag and sealed underbody. It also has a big brake package and a transaxle that allows drivers to downshift before driving off the corners.
In layman’s terms, it’s made it really difficult for drivers to initiate and complete passes.
The option tire produced a lot of grip and falloff at Richmond, but it was juxtaposed against the harder primary tire used at the same time, with a lot of racers asking just for softer gummier tire in general.
They’re getting their wish for Martinsville.
“Since the spring race at Bristol and the advent of the Option tire at both North Wilkesboro and Richmond, we’ve continued with further work on our short track tire package,” said Goodyear’s Greg Stucker. “We’ve had a lot of conversations with NASCAR, the drivers and crew chiefs and the message has been for us to be more aggressive in the areas of tire wear and lap-time fall-off.
“After we saw how the Option tire positively affected the racing at Richmond in August, we held a test at Martinsville to continue our work specifically in those areas. What we’ve come up with for the race there in November is a set-up that includes a right-side tire with the same tread compound as our Option tire, and a left-side with a tread compound that is ‘softer’ yet. Results during the test showed more grip, more wear and more fall-off at Martinsville, which is always a tricky track because of the concrete corners and temperatures in southern Virginia at that time of year.”
NASCAR has added an extra set of tires for practice that weekend, two sets instead of one, plus an additional set for the race — 10 sets instead of 9.
This is the penultimate race of the season and the final race of the Round of 8 that will lock in the final four drivers to advance to the championship race the next week at Phoenix Raceway.