In order to find out a physical quantity which controls the fatigue life of a structure and to predict the fatigue life of tires, a finite element simulation methodology to use the cracking energy density (CED) and the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) was proposed and applied to three different tires of a similar size. CED was calculated to predict the location of a crack initiation, and VCCT was used to obtain the strain energy release rate (SERR) at the tip of an initiated crack. Finite element simulations showed that SERR oscillated in the circumferential direction with its minimum occurring just before the contact zone and its maximum occurring just after the center of the contact zone, and SERR was affected significantly by the frictional force acting on the crack surface. In addition, a durability test was conducted to measure the fatigue life of the three tires. The comparison of SERR values with the test data revealed that the fatigue life increased as the amplitude of SERR decreased or as the R-ratio of SERR increased.