NASCAR plans to modify Phoenix dogleg to lessen driver loads

There are impending changes coming to the dogleg shortcut at Phoenix Raceway.

As early as August, NASCAR officials had brought up to drivers in a scheduled competition meeting that it was alarmed by the g-force numbers being placed upon drivers while transitioning to the apron from the banking.

The numbers came from the mouth pieces drivers wear that record such loads.

Bubba Wallace says he is in favor of making any change because the status quo risks doing physical harm over the course of his career.

“I don’t know exactly what it is that we’re pulling, thirtysomething Gs,” Wallace said. “I may be way off on that but it was high every time we cut the dogleg. It’s brutal. It looks cool on TV but it might not be cool when we’re 60 and struggling, right?

“I would change it from that standpoint for sure.”

That indeed was an exaggeration with the actual number said to be in the low 10s.

Wallace's 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick says he doesn’t entirely agree, stating that it’s no different than other ‘drops’ a driver experiences over the course of a given season. He says it’s a matter of having driver safety equipment properly installed.

“This is a bit subjective but I feel like it's really important for the drivers to always keep up on their seat and how they're positioned in the car,” Reddick said. “So, when you do cross over something like that, it doesn't hurt your spine or hurt other areas, but it's still a pretty significant sensation or impact.

“But again, there's sometimes jack drops can be in the same ballpark, similar range, similar direction and everything. So yeah, I mean, I'm sure they'll look at their options, right? I don't think keeping us from going down there is a way to fix it. We'll have to do something else.”

Christopher Bell said ‘it is really brutal rolling across’ the apron and that it was similar to the Watkins Glen bus stop curbs that NASCAR ultimately removed.

Joey Logano agrees that it is painful but doesn’t know what the fix is … plus he kind of likes it at the same time.

“I don't really know the fix because I think the dogleg is cool,” Logano said. “It's a big storyline for everybody. The restarts are chaotic because of it. If you put turf down, you kind of lose some of that.

“If you make it too smooth, you're just going to run down there every lap. Does that really make sense either? I don't have an opinion on what's right. And if you leave it, I mean it's quite the jarring moment. I don't want to go down there. It hurts.”

NASCAR is committed to doing something because it simply does not like subjecting drivers to the load. The most likely option is smoothing out the banking so it’s a less jarring transition.

Wallace would prefer a grass patch like back in the day so drivers can’t cut it.

“If it’s turf, we’ll still cut it so make it grass,” Wallace said. “Make it to where if you want to bitch and complain when your splitter digs in there, just don’t go down there. The old layout had grass there, right?”

William Byron doesn’t care one way or the other but does believe the shortcut is necessary and exciting the way restarts are following NASCAR flipping the track in 2018.

“I think the true layout was staying on the race track,” Byron said. “I think we're not really seeing that play out like a Concord Speedway (North Carolina) or something used to be. When the tires wear, there actually is some handling characteristics through that dogleg. I think we could see more of that if we ran there all the time and it gets rubbered in.

“But I think yeah, I would advocate for that. But I think smoothing it out is going to still allow for good restarts because with where the restart zone is, it’s better having that option.

“So I don't think it's going to go away completely. I think the restarts are probably too exciting for that to happen, but I think they could smooth it out for sure and it could help.”

But ultimately, Byron is in the group that is pro-change.

“The last restart last week, there's 20 laps to go, and no one is worried about blowing tires and we’re going down there every lap and it’s a headache for sure,” Byron said. “It's just not good for the body and not good for the car and just a lot rougher than the O'Reilly cars going down there.

“I ran Phoenix in the O'Reilly race in the spring and it's kind of a non-issue to go down there. You're just wearing out the side skirt. But in our cars, you're really just kind of jumping down off the track and it just slams the front pucks or whatever and it's pretty violent.

“So yeah, I would like to see a change. I think it deserves a look.”

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