NASCAR Tweaks Daytona Road Course’s Bus Stop Chicane

NASCAR has tweaked the Daytona International Speedway Road Course’s bus stop chicane before this weekend’s national series tripleheader, following driver feedback from the season-opening Busch Clash.

The sanctioning body added rumble strips to the Turn 9 and Turn 10 chicane on the backstretch to prevent cars from getting into the grass and spraying dirt onto the racing surface and other cars.

The rumble strips will be the same as the front chicane. The one to the driver’s right on entry is approximately 36 feet long, and the other is approximately 30 feet long.

Such as several drivers broached the idea to NASCAR leadership, with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe among the group contributing specific ideas. Among the ideas was the addition of a temporary Musco lighting tower to help with visibility, which NASCAR added in advance of this weekend.

“It looked like a good fix to me in short order,” said Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Chase Elliott. “Should be good. I don’t really have any issues with guys straightening that bus stop. That’s their job. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Just the dirt was a problem.”

Elliott will attempt to win his fifth straight NASCAR Cup Series road-course race in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 at Daytona (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He will start on the pole with Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell next to him on the front row.

Elliott won last year’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race on the course layout, and he nearly won the Busch Clash event, too. An aggressive move for the win resulted in both Elliott and race leader Ryan Blaney spinning out of contention, allowing Busch to drive by for the win.

— NASCAR —