Repavements

Bulldozing the Speedway/AP Images

Kansas Speedway is getting a makeover.


By Carly Signor

Moments after the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway this past weekend, unfamiliar machines pulled out on the race track: bulldozers.

Kansas Speedway is now the newest NASCAR track to be repaved.  The new configuration that features progressive banking in the corners, will be completed before the Chase for the Sprint Cup race there on October 21st.

This weekend’s final race on the old pavement was bittersweet.  Many drivers and fans feel like when a track is repaved, it loses its character and changes the style of racing.  And they have evidence to back it up.  When Talladega and Daytona were repaved in 2007 and 2011, respectively, we saw the change from pack racing to tandem drafts.  Bristol was repaved in 2007 and the bumping-and-banging style of racing it was famous for disappeared along with its old pavement.
 
This caused the track’s record 55-race sellout to be broken in the spring of 2010.  Currently, projects at Bristol are underway to make the racing better.

But, it is inevitable that repaving has to occur.  There is no better evidence than the Daytona 500 in 2010.  During the race, a large pothole developed in one of the turns.  Track maintenance tried their best to patch it up, but the patch never really held.  This could have caused major safety issues for the drivers.

All in all, ten NASCAR tracks have been repaved since 2005.  This year alone, four tracks are either doing complete or partial repavement jobs: Michigan, Pocono, Kansas and Bristol.  All are to be complete by the time NASCAR rolls into town.  Pocono held its first tire test on Tuesday to try out its new surface.  Only time will tell if the new surfaces can bring back the same quality of racing.