After a rip-roaring action-packed weekend of racing at Sonoma, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to its traditional oval racing. This time around, it’s not the regular, tried-and-tested racetrack, but a first Cup Series event at the Iowa Speedway. It’s more like the teams and drivers are stepping into the unknown with a new track; moreover, the partial repave job at the venue has further ignited the interest of the NASCAR community.

It’s fair to say the majority of Cup drivers aren’t particularly impressed with the repair work carried out by NASCAR and SMI. Out of the entire length of the 7/8th mile of the racing surface, only the corners and partial groves of the track have been layered with a new layer of asphalt. This would eventually mean single-grove racing and drivers fighting for the same piece of real estate.

NASCAR was indeed in the right to try to mitigate the torn-out surface of the race track to host a Cup event. However, according to Dale Earnhardt Jr, the major flaws—the bumps on the race track—are still present despite the repave job. Pairing this with the design model of the Next-Gen car, this certainly would turn out to be a physically challenging experience for drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr explains the detrimental effects of partial repave at Iowa

A grove is essentially the fastest and most effective path a driver follows on the racetrack to progress on their lap times. Different race tracks have different groves along the racing surface. Charlotte Motor Speedway is a good example where drivers aren’t restricted to one preferred grove. But thanks to the partial repave job by NASCAR at Iowa, it’s no secret that the preferred grove is going to be the inside lane or ones that have been repaved.

Dale Earnhardt Jr on the Ask Jr segment of his show, shared his take on what racing would look like at Iowa. Taking a rather simulation sort of approach, Jr stated, “Let’s just assume that that’s what you’re going to get; you’re going to have a racetrack where there’ll be one lane that you have to be in, and if you’re not in that one lane, you’re going to be at least two to five tenths slower. So restart happens, you’re side by side, and then somebody goes three wide, and you’re headed down the corner, and you’re all going. I want that grove.” 

Junior further highlighted that despite the repave, the major bumps in Turns 1 and 2 are still present. This isn’t good news for drivers, considering the Next Gen car is known to add physical strain to drivers on such racing surfaces. “I thought that they repaved this track because of the bumps because all my Xfinity guys say the bumps there are nasty especially down in 1 and 2. The drivers talk about it being rough on them physically when this car goes over curbs or whatever. Larson says that a lot of bumps in the braking zone to turn 1 are still there, and still pretty severe; that’s another thing that I don’t envy.”

However, despite the outright criticism of almost every Cup Series driver, NASCAR still feels like the repair work at Iowa will result in thrilling race action.

NASCAR is holding its ground despite the backlash

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Ever since the Iowa Speedway opened its doors for racers in 2006, it has never been refurbished. The original plan was to host the first Cup Series race on the old pavement, but the track’s health certainly wasn’t up to standards. Not only that, NASCAR had to make the most of the limited time window to get the track ready for tire tests and the event. Therefore, patch-up repair work was the only solution they found fit and sensible at the time.

NASCAR certainly has faced the community’s wrath over lackluster showings on the short-track races this year. Therefore, taking a gamble with a partial repave could backfire on them. Despite the challenges, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition is confident about a good outcome this Sunday.

“Aesthetically, it looks a little different than what we would normally go into a facility. But we’re confident the repair is to a high level, and it’s not going to be an issue and we’re still going to have some multi-grove racing around the race track.” Sawyer was quoted via Racer.com.

All things said and done, it will be interesting to see what the drivers have to say about the track when they get into their qualifying laps. This certainly has raised the hopes of the fans, who are expecting a unique yet eventful day of NASCAR racing.