Here is the thing about heading to the final weekend of the season: teams already have a mountain of data to lean on. Goodyear is bringing a familiar tire setup to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. While this exact combination hasn't hit the track at Homestead yet, the specific left- and right-side tires have already seen action 11 times throughout the 2026 season, including four times during The Chase presented by Mobil 1.
Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear’s Director of Racing for the Americas, pointed out that competitors are walking into the weekend armed with a full year’s worth of data on mile-and-a-half tracks. Between the venue's variable banking and the rubber laid down by the Goodyear Racing Eagles, drivers should have multiple racing lanes to work with around the circuit.
scheme, celebrating the release of the game later this month, which is set in a parody of the local Miami area known as
It is not just the Cup machines getting a specific rubber allocation, either. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will run on the exact same tire compound that was first introduced back in September at Darlington Raceway, another high-wear intermediate oval bearing similarities to Homestead. Meanwhile, Craftsman Truck Series teams are set to use a tire combination where neither the left nor right side has been paired together yet, though both series have handled each individual side multiple times across the campaign.
Away from the track surface, the weekend brings a completely different kind of spectacle in the skies. The iconic Goodyear Blimp will sport a special livery overhead featuring a "Grand Theft Auto VI" scheme, celebrating the release of the game later this month, which is set in a parody of the local Miami area known as "Vice City."
As for the numbers every crew chief cares about, the tire allotments are strictly set for the weekend. Cup Series entries get 12 total sets, split into 8 new sets for the race, 1 for qualifying that transfers over to the race, and 3 for practice. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series receives 8 total sets, featuring 5 new sets for the race, 1 transferring from qualifying, and 2 for practice. Finally, the Craftsman Truck Series is limited to 7 total sets, broken down into 4 new sets for the race, 1 for qualifying that transfers to the race, and 2 for practice.
