The PJ1 traction compound will be on race tracks for the next three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, beginning with Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. The series will race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 21 and Pocono Raceway on July 28. The compound has become somewhat commonplace at tracks to promote multi-lane racing.
“We are constantly looking at ways to improve racing across all tracks and series,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said.
Pocono was the most recent of the three tracks to announce plans to apply the traction compound after criticism came after the track's first race of the year in June. Drivers complained of difficulty passing in that race because of NASCAR's new aerodynamic rules package.
“I was along lines with everybody else, it could have been better,” Pocono Raceway CEO Nick Igdalsky said, as quoted in an NBC Sports article. “So that’s why we’re doing it. If I thought it was the best race Pocono has to offer, we wouldn’t be putting anything on track. But obviously we have some room for improvement with the current package.”
At Pocono, the compound is expected to be applied in the third lane of turns one and three and the second lane of turn two. Track officials also plan to use a Tire Dragon, a contraption that drags racing tires on the track to apply rubber to the racing surface in the same way tire rubber accumulates during races. The Tire Dragon also was used ahead of the Kentucky Speedway race weekend.
Discussion about this post