With NASCAR rolling into Texas this weekend, the new Cup Series rules package will get its third workout on a 1.5-mile track this season.
But the circumstances at Texas Motor Speedway provides are different from Atlanta and Las Vegas.
It’s been two years since Texas underwent a repave and a remodel in Turns 1 and 2. The banking was reduced from 24 to 20 degrees and the racing surface was expanded from 58 to 78 feet.
“When you enter that corner it seems wide-open, like there’s nothing to reference off of,” Parker Kligerman said on NASCAR America.
Now Texas Motor Speedway has added a traction compound to the upper grooves of the turns in the hopes of creating more side-by-side racing.
“I think you will be flat-out from Turn 2 all the way back to Turn 1,” Kligerman said. “If they can make multiple grooves, I think we’ll see some real drafting, which would be kind of cool.”
Watch the above video for more on this weekend’s race.