Is NASCAR Repaving the Way Forward?

There has been no shortage of doom and gloom the past few weeks regarding track repavings.

Anywhere one turns, they can find a plethora of opinions, ranging from the view of repaving the entire circuit to never letting a single piece of fresh asphalt grace the surface of a NASCAR racetrack ever again.

What can’t be denied, though, is that for the second week in a row, a freshly repaved track provided exquisite racing when not many beforehand were sure it would.

That warrants a deeper look, then. Why was the racing so good the past two weekends? The answers differ greatly, but both have the same central theme: It all comes down to passing.

Sonoma Raceway brought drivers new NASCAR Cup Series lap records at the track with the fresh asphalt being laid down in the spring. Drivers were able to brake later into turns depending on how fresh their tires were and the temperature of their breaks to create passing opportunities while also having better grip in acceleration zones. That was also thanks to the fresh pavement, depending on how worn out their tires were.

Similarly at Iowa Speedway, drivers had more grip on the fresh pavement. It didn’t eat up the Goodyears that were brought to the track like Bristol Motor Speedway or Martinsville Speedway would, so drivers weren’t having to downshift into corners as much, which created even more passing opportunities. This is why Iowa got away with only having to repave the corners, as they serve as the primary braking and acceleration zones on the short oval.

Racing is simply at its best when everyone can pass freely throughout different lanes of the track. That’s been NASCAR’s bread and butter for more than 75 years now, and it will continue to be until Formula 1 decides to give an oval a shot, which will more than likely never happen.

When the Next Gen car was first introduced, drivers complained about not being able to pass. It’s important to notice now, though, that the car isn’t what drivers are mad at more times than not. Now it’s one another. This is a good sign that the car is doing exactly what it was meant to do: create as much competition between the best stock car drivers on the planet as possible.

With that being established, NASCAR now has to take that same brand of uber competitive racing to its most marquee markets. The superspeedway package has been figured out, taking place in large markets but in small quantities. The trick, then, is figuring out…