NASCAR is changing circuit to use new layout next year
- NASCAR has announced they will be changing tracks for next year’s events
- This means drivers will be doing more laps than before
- One driver has already given the change a ringing endorsement
Published on Nov 21, 2024 at 8:01 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Nov 21, 2024 at 8:01 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
NASCAR is set to use a new layout next year, using the shorter track at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
The course change was announced on November 20 and will see a mile chopped off the track.
Rather than racing a 3.41 mile full course, drivers will be taking on 2.3 miles instead.
This shorter track will play host to its Cup Series and Xfinity Series events.
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Why is NASCAR changing to a different track?
Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith said: “The move to the national course will make a great race experience even better for our fans with more laps and more action.
“Fans will have more laps to cheer for their favorite driver from the best seats, and the action will come faster with lap times reduced by roughly a minute.
“The national course and its new pavement will provide the drivers, teams and crew chiefs with a fresh look and a new challenge after running the full course the last four years at COTA.”
The length of the Cup Series races will increase from 68 laps to 100.
That’s a lot of NASCAR bang for your buck.
It’s not quite as lengthy as the time it took this NASCAR driver to win a race – which occurred 53 years ago.
Next year’s events will be the fifth time that NASCAR will be utilizing the Circuit of the Americas venue.
However, it’ll be the first time racing on the repaved track, which was completed earlier this year.
How a driver reacted to the new layout
Racing driver Ross Chastain already got the chance to try out the new track on iRacing and had rave reviews for it.
As reported by Yahoo!, he said: “It’s going to be like basically going to a new track, a new town, new area.
“It flows together nice, and [Turn] 12 [of the full course] will really change since we don’t have that long backstretch.
“Once I get to [Turn] 13, though, it’s all going to be the same. I’ll get my normal speed I was at last year.
“Gosh, this place is awesome,” he concluded.
Even though the new layout will offer some challenges, Chastain is embracing them.
He said: “I love the challenge of the Cup Series.
“That’s why I’ve ascended to this level, because I kept pushing myself from pro-trucks to late models to the Truck Series, Xfinity and Cup.
“It’s scary as heck to think about trying to compete at this level, and how good these drivers are, how good these teams are, how many people’s livelihoods depend on this race shop.
“And this will be a race that we look forward to and put a lot of time into the simulator like we already talked about ahead of time.
“Look at the test data.
“See if one of us maybe could test and get some real, real track time and then go race.”
The NASCAR events at COTA will come after the season-openers at Daytona 500 and Atlanta Motor Speedway in February.
Race tracks will come in and out of use over time, just like this North Carolina venue that has been left to nature for the last few decades.
