Lines painted on the track to mark the restart zone could become the norm, a NASCAR executive predicted Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, applauded Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, for painting the restart lines on the track for Sunday’s Bank of America 500.
“It’s much easier to see from a fan perspective at the race track,’’ O’Donnell said. “Good fan amenity that was out there.
“Marcus has probably set a trend there that we’ll see going forward.’’
A spokesperson for Kansas Speedway — which hosts the Xfinity and Sprint Cup series this weekend — said Monday morning that the track had not made plans to paint restart lines on the track. Part of that was because track officials were awaiting to hear from NASCAR how big the restart zone there would be.
Drivers liked what Charlotte Motor Speedway did this past weekend.
“I think the biggest place that is going to help is if you’re back in the pack, if your 10th or 15th, you can kind of see and judge when they’re going to start going,’’ Martin Truex Jr. said. “It’s easier for the fans. It’s easier for NASCAR to judge a little bit on the restarts.
“They sit up (in the control tower) and the restart lines are on the walls, they can’t even see them and their angle is a little bit off. They do a little guessing. I know they put cameras in and all that, but being able to look down on the race track and see those lines is definitely going to help them make those judgment calls.’’
Truex said restart zone lines should be painted on tracks for each of the remaining Chase races.
“How hard is it to paint two lines?’’ Truex said. “I’ll go out and paint them if they like.’’
David Ragan agrees with Truex.
“I don’t know why every track doesn’t have the lines painted across, I think that’s awesome,’’ he said. “I think it’s clearer for the fans to see it, for the TV network to see it. Hopefully, all the race tracks follow Charlotte’s lead.’’