April 7th 2026

All-new Goodyear tire setup ready to weather Cup Series debut at Bristol

NASCAR Cup Series teams will have an all-new tire setup for this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with Goodyear providing new right-side and left-side rubber designed for consistent performance in changing weather conditions.

The tire combination will make its debut in Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the eighth of 36 races for the Cup Series this season.

Goodyear officials landed on this weekend’s setup after analyzing data from a two-day test last November. Cup Series drivers Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace tried out new configurations during those sessions, with the intent to have the high-banked concrete surface take rubber in a variety of weather conditions — all while managing the track’s high speeds and loads.

“The objective at our Bristol tire test in November was to develop a setup that is less temperature dependent at laying rubber down,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear’s director of racing for the Americas. “We heard loudly from the teams about variations in weather between practice and race conditions, and the need for a tire solution to address this. The track took rubber in November under rather cold temperatures, and again at the March OEM Wheel Force test. Our development team did a great job, and we are very pleased to be heading into the weekend with this new package.”

The 0.533-mile Tennessee track has been a hotbed for tire development, ever since a March 2024 event turned into a battle of tire management and aggressive wear. Since that Cup Series race, NASCAR and Goodyear officials have collaborated to enhance the racing in the sport’s top division by placing a premium on those factors with softer rubber compounds and degradation.

This weekend should provide a fertile proving ground. The Eastern Tennessee hills are in the midst of a relative cold snap this week, but daytime temperatures this weekend are forecast to rise from cool overnight lows into the low 80s.

Cup Series teams will each have an allotment of 12 sets for the weekend — 10 new for the race, one for practice and one from Saturday’s qualifying session that transfers to the main event. Four sets of wet-weather tires are also available for each team in the event of inclement weather.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series will roll on the same Goodyear setup that’s been used at Bristol since September 2022. The tire configuration was also used earlier this season at Darlington Raceway and Rockingham Speedway.

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