Tony Stewart’s Driver Predicts Calamity at SHR’s Worst Track Despite NASCAR’s Precautionary Action

The upcoming race at the tracks of Indianapolis is surely making headlines and is the talk of the town. And why not, one of the most challenging road tracks is set to usher not only the Cup Series full-timers but also the drivers from the other formats of motor racing. However, the road course of Indianapolis has always been a tough nut to crack for a majority of drivers, especially the drivers from Tony Stewart’s team. 

The performance that Ford has exhibited in the last few races in the 2023 Cup Series is worthy of adulation. From struggling to find pace on the tracks, the Blue Oval teams have rebounded themselves and are aiming for podium finishes in the remaining three races of the Cup Series. However, one of the Ford teams seems to have cold feet ahead of the Cup Series race on Sunday. It is none other than Stewart-Haas Racing, and the apprehension was evident in Chase Briscoe’s voice in his latest interview.

Tony Stewart’s driver reveals the past ordeals encountered in Indianapolis ahead of Sunday’s race

The Cup Series race on the Indianapolis road course was introduced back in 2021 and since then the races on this iconic track have been nothing but utter chaos. Races in both years have witnessed drivers wrecking each other out of contention or hitting the tire barriers with great intensity. Moreover, a majority of the cars sustained heavy damages after hitting the curb which was eventually removed after a similar incident occurred in the 2021 race.

In addition, the restarts in both seasons witnessed an increase in aggression among the drivers, as they fanned out on a narrow Turn 1. This eventually led to wreck carnage on the track that forced the drivers to call it a day. Nevertheless, owing to past experiences, NASCAR for the 2023 Cup Series introduced new procedural changes in the race. One such being the position of the restart zone, which has been moved ahead of the final corner of the track, before the field meets the front stretch.

These changes were made to ensure a wreck-free race, especially at Turn 1. However, it seems that these changes have failed to provide consolation to Chase Briscoe owing to the experiences that he and his other two teammates had undergone. The drivers under the Stewart-Haas Racing banner have fared poorly in the last two races in Indianapolis and none of the drivers were able to finish within the top 15. Moreover, Chase Briscoe was embroiled in an on-track incident with Denny Hamlin that led to a post-race confrontation between the two drivers.

Owing to these facts, Briscoe in an interview expressed, “It’s hard I mean, I feel you are never safe there truthfully. I mean you can be in the front row you can be in the middle you can be in the back row, I mean I think I have wrecked in all three of those scenarios. You are never safe there, especially on the restarts.”

“The Turn 1 is such chaos every single time, I do think that with the new format or I guess we are changing the start-finish line or not, but the restart zone potentially I think if we do that it might help Turn 1 a little bit.”

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Chase Briscoe spills the beans on the difference between Indy’s road course and other road tracks

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Continuing on the same lines, and the recent developments on the track, Briscoe added, “You are still gonna have chaos because we are going so fast, that’s probably the biggest delta like in Turn 1 versus in straightway speed out of any road course we go. I guess COTA may be close but COTA is not nearly as narrow as what Indy is.”

“I just feel like you are always open to the chaos there and just calamity every time, have restarts there with how narrow it is in the narrow section of the race track. I don’t know if there is any strategy you can pull necessarily to be safe from all that,” Briscoe concluded.

Apart from the change in the restart line, the drivers will be able to change lanes, after crossing the restart zone and not wait till the start-finish line, also drivers have to perform a stop-and-go if the drivers chose to take Turn 1 and drive through the runoff area.

With these new rules coming to play, it is to be seen how the drivers fare in Sunday’s Cup Series race. Will they be able to avoid major wreckages or will it be way worse than the last two Indy races? Well, only time will tell. 

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