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New Hampshire Motor Speedway adding traction compound to all four turns

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bad Boy Off Road 300

LOUDON, NH - SEPTEMBER 25: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Martin Truex Jr, driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, lead the field to the line for a restart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 25, 2016 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

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New Hampshire Motor Speedway will add the traction agent PJ1 to all four turns this week ahead of its NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series races this weekend.

The agent will be applied in the middle lane up to the wall.

The track confirmed the decision in a statement to NBC Sports from David McGrath, the track’s executive vice president and general manager:

“With the intent of creating another groove for the drivers to produce more exciting on-track racing for our fans, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be applying a PJ1 compound to all four turns of the 1.058-mile speedway prior to any on-track racing for the July 14-16 NASCAR race weekend.”

The possibility of adding the agent was first mentioned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sunday morning on Periscope

“I heard they put some of that sticky stuff down on the race track,” Earnhardt said. “We can’t figure out exactly where they put it. The rumor is they put it in the middle groove. But if you go to New Hampshire and you look at the race track, you could ask 10 people what the middle groove is and get five different opinions on that. ... Everybody’s spraying this stuff everywhere, man. I don’t even know it was an incredible success anytime we’ve used it so I don’t know why everybody’s so damn spray happy.”

PJ1 was first used last August at Bristol Motor Speedway for its night race. It was applied to the bottom groove in an effort to improve the racing at the short track. Its use drew positive reviews from drivers and the substance was used again for the April race.

A month later, Charlotte Motor Speedway used the substance on the upper groove of the turns of the 1.5-mile track for the Coke 600 race weekend.

After the race, Martin Truex Jr. said the addition of the substance made the race “a lot of fun. I thought it was a good addition.”

But Truex went on to say he didn’t think the substance would work at any other track on the circuit due to the track’s unique surface.

With its variable banking of two and seven degrees, NHMS is the flattest track to use the traction agent so far. Bristol sports 28-degree banking and Charlotte has 24-degree banking.

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