With the first NASCAR Cup Series road course of the season on tap this weekend at Circuit of the Americas for the Echopark Texas Grand Prix, there are a few rule changes that fans should keep in mind.
Some drivers have mixed feelings about a few of them, others seem like no brainers, but overall, it should lead to a better racing product when the Next Gen cars hit the track this weekend after the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series cars get their races in.
The first of these is the pushing back of the restart zone and what that could mean for the race itself. The old restart zone was in the middle of the straightaway coming out of turn 20. Now, though, the restart zone has moved significantly closer to the turn, meaning that the drivers will have almost the entire length of the main straightaway headed into turn 1 to race.
This video from NASCAR explains some of the reasoning behind the move.
The issue with the old restart zone was that when drivers got to the ever-dangerous turn 1, the cars were far too close together. Drivers would leave track limits before the braking zone just so that they could make sure their nose was clean upon actually exiting the corner.
The thought behind the new restart zone is this: If some drivers (i.e. the back of the pack) still haven’t even made it through the corner yet when the leaders take the green, then the field itself will be more spread out than in years past.
Oh, was it really that bad before? Yes, it was.
There are a few things to think about, though, with pushing the restart zone as far back as they did. Will the cars be too spread out by the corner entry? Will the gap between those at the front of the pack and the back be too wide? All of that remains to be seen, but it’s something to watch for this weekend when all the cars take to the track at once.
Then there are stage breaks. Last season, stage breaks returned during road courses for the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL race, and they’re here to stay at all road courses until otherwise announced. There were still stages, but no cautions for them at every road course last year except for…
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