A few years ago, a bolt of lightning struck the track of Texas Motor Speedway and incurred a crack so deep that it reached the concrete base. Moreover, the track was in poor condition, as even the slightest hint of rain would clog it. Getting it dry even after using multiple air cannons was becoming nearly impossible. It was then that NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports Inc. decided to repave the 1.5-mile-long race track and shroud it with 80-foot-wide asphalt.

However, that’s not the only change that they made. Whatever the changes were, the drivers did not seem to be quite happy with the results. Some felt like the width of the track around the first two turns was unnecessary, while others felt like the mere length of the track should have been brought way down. 23XI Racing owner expressed why he felt like SMI did a very poor job with the reconfiguration in 2017.

Denny Hamlin revealed removing the traction component off of the tracks could improve things

When SMI went about making the changes to the racetrack in Fort Worth, Texas, they did not really heed the advice of any driver whatsoever. And now that callousness is paying off negatively. After finishing the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 in 5th place, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver reflected on why racing at Texas Motor Speedway was so difficult.

Denny Hamlin said, “They (SMI) went rogue when they redesigned it, I don’t know if they asked anybody about the redesign; they just did it. And they’ve redesigned a lot of tracks; a lot of them we don’t race anymore. It’s got this cr*p on the racetrack that is really hurting it.”

The substance that Denny Hamlin was talking about is PJ-1, a traction component that NASCAR uses on its tracks to improve the grip of the tires on the racetrack. However, he said, “It’s just so slick that you can’t even touch it. So, I would say surely there is some chemical that could wash this racetrack off. Whatever that is, there’s gotta be some sort of degreaser or something that will eat away at that PJ-1 or resin to get it off the track.”

“We gotta get it off the track somehow,” he added considering the track saw 10 drivers DNF this past Sunday.

Even Denny Hamlin’s arch-rival, Kyle Larson, agreed about $710.8 million worth SMI’s failed project. In a post-race interview from last year, he shed light on what he would do if he could build another track in Texas for NASCAR to race on.

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Among other changes, SMI reduced the bankings around turn 1 and turn 2 from 24 to 20 degrees, while those around turn 3 and 4 remained the same. This allowed the drivers to move way below and run on the bottom groove. But was it really a wise choice?

In his recent podcast, Denny Hamlin shed light on the same. He exclaimed, “We’ve got 80 foot of racetrack up there, we never even touch it. So what’s the point of making it that wide?”

Denny suggested that the straightways should be wider as next-gen cars need space to run smoothly. All things considered, it is safe to say that this year, another Goodyear mishap did not happen. Denny Hamlin seemed to rather like the quality of the tires. He said, “I thought the tire drove very well. It had good speed at the beginning of the run. But it fell off eight-tenths.”

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“Eight-tenths is not bad, but that track, if you’re eight-tenths faster when you catch someone, you slow down eighth-tenths. Because you can’t go somewhere else to avoid them,” he explained.

Kyle Larson, on the other hand, demanded that SMI start from scratch. He said, “For one, they did a very poor job with the reconfiguration initially. I would like to see them change it from mile and half to something shorter. I don’t know if that means bring the backstretch back or whatever, but if I could build a track, it’d be probably a three-quarter mile.”

Although he wasn’t sure whether that was possible, he admitted that he would have done that if he could build a track.

“Anything would be better than what they did,” he laughed.

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