- Goodyear will debut a softer left-side tire at Martinsville Speedway to increase tire wear and racing variability.
- The new compound was tested at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, with input from Christopher Bell and Joey Logano’s teams.
- Crew chiefs Adam Stevens and Paul Wolfe say temperature and track surface differences could make Sunday’s race unpredictable.
Goodyear will introduce a new left-side tire compound for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Martinsville Speedway, designed to produce more aggressive tire wear and greater fall-off during the Xfinity 500.
The change applies only to the left-side tire, while the right-side tire will remain the same as the one used at Martinsville in March and at New Hampshire’s playoff race in September. Officials said the adjustment aims to improve competition in the penultimate race of the season by encouraging more tire management and strategic variation across long runs.
Goodyear developed the new tire through testing in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Two playoff contenders participated in that test: Christopher Bell with the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and defending series champion Joey Logano with the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
No. 20 crew chief Adam Stevens said the additional data should provide an advantage, even though track conditions will be much different this weekend.
“It’s something we have to lean on and study a little bit,” Stevens said. “We actually got some laps on the Martinsville left-side, so I know a lot of guys didn’t and don’t that certainly didn’t do the test. So, we do have some data to corroborate and look at and study. It’s going to be a different race. You know that the track surface is so much different, and then the ambient conditions are going to be so much different, that how it takes rubber and lays rubber and behaves is going to be a completely different animal, but it’s something I’d rather have than nothing.”
Paul Wolfe, crew chief for Logano, said cooler weather and potential cloud cover could further influence tire performance.
“I’ve been a part of these tests and seen tire wear drastically change based on temperature, and we’ve seen it at Bristol [Motor Speedway] as well, so a little bit of a question mark,” Wolfe said. “But you know, that’s what we have to prepare for, the unknown, and trying to put our best foot forward as the most educated guess we can of what’s going to happen, and how much does that really change the setup in the car. There are things potentially that you’re going to do differently if you knew exactly what was going to happen, so you find yourself making compromises potentially with that unknown.”
Tire setups for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series event will remain unchanged from the configurations used at Martinsville since 2022.
All three NASCAR national series will determine their Championship 4 fields after Martinsville, making tire strategy a critical factor in deciding which drivers advance to compete for their respective titles.
