All three of NASCAR’s national series will make history this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, as all three will mark their first-ever races on the DIS road course. The weekend will culminate in Sunday’s running of the GoBowling.com 235 by the NASCAR Cup Series. The course for the race weekend has an added element, a second chicane.
“NASCAR and its OEMs ran several simulations to determine the course layout and engine/aero package for the inaugural NASCAR race on the Daytona International Speedway road course,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Innovation John Probst said. “Due to the predicted high speeds and loads on the braking system, NASCAR will add a chicane off oval turn four at Daytona and move to a high downforce 750 hp aero/engine package for the NASCAR Cup Series race on Aug. 16. We believe this will combine vehicle performance and safety to provide the best possible road course race for our fans.”
The new chicaine off turn four of the Daytona oval is in addition to an already existing chicane on the oval’s backstretch. It extends the course to a 3.61-mile length with 14 turns.
“The turn four chicane gives the drivers a final shot to make a pass coming to the famed finish line,” Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile said. “The fans in the venue are going to be in for a treat on the Daytona road course, just like the races on the old Daytona beach/road course that were put on by Bill France Sr. in the 1940s and ‘50s.”
The NASCAR races on the Daytona road course this weekend, Saturday for the Xfinity Series and Sunday for the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and Cup Series, will be held without prior practice. Cup Series drivers for Hendrick Motorsports, William Byron and Alex Bowman, got aquainted with the course with the help of sports-car racer Jordan Tayler on Chevrolet’s “Driver in the Loop” simulator near Charlotte, N.C.
The GoBowling.com 235 will be 65-lap race, divided into two 15-lap stages, followed by a 35-lap stage.
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