Goodyear Expands Use of Multi-Zone Tread Technology in 2014

Last year, Goodyear brought a tire concept to America's most popular motorsport that 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski has said could "revolutionize" the sport. That innovation was Goodyear's Multi-Zone Tread technology, which features two distinct compounds in one tire – creating one zone for enhanced traction and another for greater endurance. Goodyear first employed Multi-Zone Tread technology in passenger car tires like the Assurance TripleTred All-Season, which features three zones for superior traction in wet, icy and dry conditions.

In 2013, Goodyear debuted its Multi-Zone Tread technology at two NASCAR races – Atlanta Motor Speedway and the fall event at Kansas Speedway. Because the two tracks were at opposite ends of the tire wear spectrum, the compound combinations were different for each.

"Atlanta is a unique track that presents several challenges for us as a tiremaker – it is extremely abrasive, but at the same time it's extremely fast," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales.

"While the Gen-6 car added even more speed to the equation, thus putting more stress on the right side tires, just going to a harder compound wasn't a viable solution. The Multi-Zone Tread technology enabled us to maintain the tractive compound on the outside portion of the tread and toughen up the inside three inches to help protect the part of the right-side tire that sees a lot of heat. Kansas, on the other hand, was a little more than a year on this side of a repave. And while the track seemed to have lost some grip, it had not yet begun to wear tires. For this case, we chose to increase the grip on the left side of the car with a more tractive, single-compound tire. We paired that with a Multi-Zone Tread right-side that combined the same compound we'd run there since the repave on the outside for traction with a tougher, more heat resistant compound on the inboard three inches for endurance."

For 2014, Goodyear enters the season with plans to run its Multi-Zone Tread right-side tire at both Atlanta and Kansas again, as well as at Texas Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway. Several more tracks could be added, pending on-track testing during the season.