'Learnings' prove to be almost too much on the Indy road course
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — The last new track for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is in the books, thank goodness.
The new venues provided entertainment and potential, but the unknowns and the "learning" that goes on at them hit the high-water mark for 2021 this past weekend.
The latest, a Cup race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, delivered a chaotic and entertaining finish and also was the result of unfortunate issues with the curbs.
"We had our problems today," a frank NASCAR Senior Vice President Scott Miller said. "This was one of those deals where you take a lot of learnings away, and it can come back and put on a better event, avoiding the problems we had today.
"We saw some exciting action out there, and the course itself puts on a really good show."
There is something of a tightrope to walk with road courses and wanting to put on a good show. A good road course requires enough skill that it challenges the drivers. But there also have to be areas for drivers to make mistakes and potentially recover without ending their day.
That said, here’s the story of how what many hoped would be a new must-see event turned into one that probably had many fans facepalming, NASCAR officials exasperated and drivers wondering if they would be able to finish the race unscathed.
Both the Xfinity race and Cup race at Indianapolis saw several cars torn up and days ruined because of questionable curbs, which are designed to keep the racing on the surface and not have drivers think they can skip across the grass without penalty.
In the Xfinity race, NASCAR had a temporary curb on the outside of the exit of Turn 6 in a place that it hoped would encourage drivers to not be too aggressive.
The drivers — shockingly (not) — were aggressive, and on double-file restarts, they weren’t single file by that point, pushing cars to the outside brink of the asphalt and over the curb.
NASCAR removed that curb for the race Sunday, partly because it knew that Cup cars sit lower to the ground, as they do not have a minimum height rule for the front bumper. Plus, it was a prime passing zone if a driver could set it up right, so NASCAR wanted cars to be able to run two-wide in that area.
That same issue, though, likely resulted in the curb at the entry to Turn 6 turning into a hazard. The curb was just low enough that drivers would risk driving over it. Drivers had front splitters torn off from getting caught underneath the temporary curb. NASCAR repaired the curb twice with a welding truck.
But it then tore apart, pretty much delaminating during the final laps of the race. William Byron said it was like hitting a wall, and with it damaging the underbody of his car, he dumped fluid on the track to cause more wrecks.
"We were running fourth there behind [Kyle] Larson, and he gets over the curb in the same spot, and something, like after he hit with his right rear, it, like, peeled up," Byron said.
"And as soon as I got there, I hit something, and it just threw me completely off-line. It tore the front end right off."
NASCAR eventually removed part of the curb — to a cheer from the crowd.
"There was no way we could justify leaving like it was without removing it," Miller said.
The entire curb, though, wasn’t removed, as NASCAR left another part in because it thought speeds would be too high without it. Miller said that when testing the course last year for the Xfinity race, drivers asked for something back there, noting that they could have been 15-20 mph faster going into Turn 7.
"You better stay left of the big curb because that one is a launchpad, for sure," Joey Logano said after he exited the infield medical center after going for a launch.
Drivers obviously were frustrated — they get paid to be as aggressive as possible. To ask them to be meek or lose spots just doesn’t seem like the best plan.
NASCAR could have stopped the race, but that would have been hard to stomach for the fans who bought tickets and for the drivers looking for an opportunity to win.
"I would have been fine with it, but I didn't think they would," said Chris Rice, team president for the race-winning AJ Allmendinger car. "It was the first race here on the road course, the inaugural race. I felt like they wanted to finish it.
"You don't know what the challenges are that they're going to have with these cars that are low. We ran here for two races and had no issues with that. Our ... Xfinity cars are not low-ride cars."
That is probably part of the problem. NASCAR has limited testing, but maybe if NASCAR is going to new venues, it could have an organizational test session to work out some of the rough spots. NASCAR’s Next Gen car for next season has even more underbody work, and the curbs at road courses can’t destroy it as they did this weekend.
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IMS President Doug Boles said they have had the same style since 2014, and it was a bit of a surprise that there was an issue.
But that won’t keep Boles from wanting the race on the road course next year. He said attendance was bigger than in 2019 on the oval.
"We made the right decision for right now," Boles said. "I think we want to have it back again next year on the road course."
NASCAR must learn from Sunday. Following sight issues at the new Bristol dirt race and visibility issues in the rain in its first trip to Circuit of the Americas, it seems that with all the hype for new venues, there might be too much "learning" going on with trophies and championship implications on the line.
"Most of the facilities we have gone to have been proven over time," Miller said.
Now it’s time for NASCAR to prove that while adding so many new facilities, it can make the adjustments needed to have exciting races that don’t jump over the curb into the ridiculous.
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Thinking Out Loud
Chase Briscoe should have known that he likely would be penalized for cutting the course on the restart in the second overtime. It was a pretty clear violation.
But when a driver is going for a victory and a spot in the playoffs, it is understandable that he could get tunnel vision and just go for the win.
Briscoe's contact with Denny Hamlin looked intentional, but with Briscoe saying it wasn’t and Hamlin saying it wasn’t malicious, Briscoe’s résumé of clean racing earns him the benefit of the doubt.
As a result, it is difficult to be disgusted by Briscoe on Sunday. It wasn’t a good display — though it was exciting! — with a driver who was under penalty (he said he didn’t know) turning the leader of the race.
NASCAR needs to figure out ways on road courses to let drivers know they are under penalty. Maybe it could use the digital dash to send messages, or maybe have a board that flashes the number of a driver who needs to serve a stop-and-go.
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Stat of Note
AJ Allmendinger won his first Cup race in his 214th career start. His winless streak was at 161 races entering Indianapolis.
They Said It
"The best part is when you've got [an owner] Matt Kaulig and [a team president] Chris Rice on the radio just going, ‘Hey, we're not here for friends. We're not here for points. We're here to win this race.’ So win it, or basically bring it back on the hook. That kind of frees up a race car driver to go after it." – Indy winner AJ Allmendinger
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass.
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