2004 Nextel Tires - Goodyear's New Tire

With the construction and re-compounding, there will be other effects on setups. The tires, overall, are expected to be softer and more compliant. Rick Campbell, team leader for NASCAR racing, adds, "With construction and re-compounding for the '04 season, it is expected that the tire spring rates will trend softer." A softer tire spring rate (with other setup factors remaining the same), could be compensated for by increasing the corner static spring rate, but with the aerodynamics and grip changes, it will increase the difficulty. Before arriving at each track, the teams will know some of the characteristics of the new tires, but without testing, they will not have any physical time with them. It will be the work of the chassis engineers and software simulations to provide initial setups so the team will lose the least time possible getting used to the new tires and aero packages.

Tire Distribution
An issue that cropped up at the end of last season was that of tire distribution to the teams at the track. Goodyear spent a lot of time working with the teams to answer their questions. How are tires distributed to teams? How old are the tires brought to each event? Are the teams told the ages of these tires? These questions came from teams trying to find out more information about their tires. When the date codes were removed from the tire labels early in the '03 season, some teams had been keeping records and knew which tires were which, but some did not. One way Goodyear is answering these questions is by physically placing the date codes back on to each tire at the track.

"The freshest tires are mounted for the team's first three sets [practice and qualifying]," Campbell explains, "then 'carryover' tires are used to mount up the first sets of race tires, and finally the race sets are finished up with the fresh tires. NASCAR pulls random sets from the 'carryover' truck first for race, then from the 'fresh' truck. All teams get the same number of each type of tires."

Tires used during last season were not more than five months old when they arrived at the track. These older tires were built for the prior event at that track, or a prior event that used those D-codes. D-codes are Goodyear's way of cataloging a tire design. Each construction that Goodyear produces will have its own unique D-code. Goodyear will do extensive in-house testing before any tire will be allowed on the track. The results of this testing will be in the Goodyear engineer's notebook, and with on-track results, will be key factors in determining which tires will be run at which tracks.

Even though the date codes were not included on tires for most of the '03 season, tire specialists looked for clues to provide their teams with the optimum tire sets. "We knew that some of the tires would be re-used from the spring race," explains Gene Pasquale III, tire specialist for the GM Goodwrench No. 29. "I looked at the serial numbers and any of the tires, with numbers I had seen before, weren't used."

Tech Center Residence
When a sanctioning body uses one vendor exclusively, it needs to work closely to make sure each side is accomplishing its intended goals. To further this objective, Goodyear and NASCAR agreed to have a Goodyear engineer, Chris Smith, relocate to the NASCAR Tech Center. "The R&D Center is pulling together engine people, chassis people, and aerodynamic people," says Tony Freund, team leader of advanced engineering at Goodyear. "

It's logical that a tire person be included in that mix."

Goodyear has always worked closely with NASCAR, but having Chris Smith inside the sanctioning body's R&D facility will only enhance that. "There are big changes, aero-wise, that they're looking at," Freund continues. "We're there from the beginning, working with them on simulations and models. Chris will be there to listen to the conversations and assist the project."