This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If you enjoy NASCAR and you enjoy the Great American Race, make sure you thank the folks in Akron.

“We played a large role for 60 plus years now and that is how long Goodyear has been involved in the sport of NASCAR,” said Greg Stucker, Director of Racing for Goodyear Tire.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber company, headquartered in Akron, makes every single tire for every single race for all three of NASCAR’s series.

“It’s a big undertaking, a lot of tires, a lot of operational, a lot of logistics, very big effort,” said Stucker.

This weekend alone in Daytona, Goodyear brought 3,500 tires which is a typical number when all three NASCAR series race in one weekend. If it’s a two-series race, Goodyear will bring 2,500 tires to the track.

“Our goal is to make a set of tires or tire combinations that will last for a fuel stop,” Stucker said.

These tires are not cheap, a single racing tire costs $497.

“One of the obvious things is our tires do not have any tread pattern, they still have a tread, they are still rubber just like on your street tire but it simply doesn’t have a pattern because we are only running in the dry,” said Stucker.

What you may not know about a Goodyear racing tire is that’s it is actually two tires, a tire inside of a tire.

“It’s there just in case something happens to the outer tire. If it would run over a piece of debris or whatever and it would start to lose air, instead of falling down to the wheel, it’s a safety valve there basically,” Stucker said.

The racing tires are produced in Akron and then shipped to warehouses in Columbus. There they are pre-mounted 2.5 weeks prior to an event. Those tires are then put on seven or eight, 53-foot trailers and hauled to the race track.

“We understand we have a role in the quality of racing, we always try to provide the guys with as much grip as possible,” said Stucker.

The Goodyear racing tires are on a 12-month production schedule. In fact, the engineers are currently working on tires for races coming up in three months.

More on the Daytona 500, here.

29.185169 -81.070528