INDUSTRY: Texas Motor Speedway undergoing repaving, reprofiling

Texas Motor Speedway isn’t giving history a chance to repeat itself.

Last year, both the NASCAR and IndyCar weekends at the 1.5-mile facility were not only affected by weather but resulted in extensive delays due to difficulties drying the racing surface. Friday, track president Eddie Gossage announced the facility would undergo an extensive makeover ahead of its spring NASCAR weekend.

The project will consist of a complete repave, construction of a drainage system on the front and backstretch (to allow water to drain away from the track quicker), and a change in the banking in Turns 1 and 2. For the repave, a new layer of asphalt will be added over the existing pavement.

Work will begin Monday, January 9 and without any extensive delays, is expected to be completed by early to mid-March. NASCAR visits Texas Motor Speedway on April 7-9.

“The fans are why we are doing this,” Gossage said in a track release. “The old pavement no longer dried as quickly because through the years of use and weather, the asphalt became porous, kind of like a sponge. Even if we only had a brief shower, it was taking us far too long to get the track dried in order to get on to the racing.

“We owe it to the fans to present the best possible racetrack, so they will be assured of seeing NASCAR and IndyCar races even if we face some brief inclement weather. This will accomplish that goal.”

Lane Construction Corp. will handle the project. The company has worked with NASCAR previously, having also paved other tracks in recent years, including Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway.

The asphalt will feature a mix similar to the surfaces at Kentucky Speedway and Las Motor Speedway, fellow SMI tracks. This will be the second full repave for Texas since it opened in 1997, the other having occurred in the summer of 2001.

In Turns 1 and 2, the banking will go from 24 degrees to 20 degrees. The width of the racing surface will also expand from 60 to 80 feet. Turns 3 and 4 will go unchanged.

“For years, I’ve heard the absurd comments about 1.5-mile tracks being tagged as ‘cookie-cutter’ tracks,” Gossage said. “While nothing could be further from the truth – all 1.5-mile tracks are different – this assures once and for all that Texas Motor Speedway is unique, unlike any other track in the sport. That’s the way we like it here in No Limits, Texas.”

Last June IndyCar officials were forced to postpone the Firestone 600 after 71 laps and scheduled it to resume in August. Torrential rain and lingering wet track conditions, including standing water, prevented track officials from being able to completely dry the racing surface.

In November, NASCAR saw a six-hour rain delay and a long drying effort before the start of the Chase elimination race. When rain returned shortly before the 300-lap mark, NASCAR declared the race official.

“Due to the issues we had in 2016 with moisture and track drying, we had to take steps to correct the problems to give the fans the experience they deserve,” said Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Vice President of Operations and Development Steve Swift.

“With that task at hand, we looked at what would be the best way to create more exciting racing and to correct the water issues. We are excited to put these practices in place and create another great SMI race.”

Texas Motor Speedway says the project with occur in four stages, beginning with the installation of the new drainage system on the backstretch. The same work will then take place on the frontstretch. The third stage will be track changes in Turns 1 and 2, with the final stage being the repave.