Dale Earnhardt Jr. intrigued by Iowa repave treachery: 'There will be a lot of sh*t going on'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has an idea of what we’re gonna see this Sunday at Iowa Speedway in the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.
The racetrack underwent a partial repave in preparation for hosting its first ever NASCAR Cup Series race, with the entrances and exits of turns two and four getting a fresh coat of asphalt. Photos of the newly paved surface emerged last month, showing just a sliver of the old pavement remaining in the corners of the track. As a result of only part of the corners undergoing a repave, Earnhardt believes it’ll be necessary for drivers to stay on the new asphalt if they hope to be competitive, he said on the “Dale Jr. Download” this week.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. sounds off on new-look Iowa Speedway
“When we go to Iowa — what I think is going to happen is [Kyle] Larson made a good point about how slick it was, he meant the new asphalt. And once they put rubber down, it started to get comfortable,” Earnhardt said. “But anywhere outside of that little groove, that car width of a groove they were running, was nasty [and] a second slower. A whole second. And so, that will get better with more cars on the racetrack, but not a lot. … You’re going to have this one groove that you have to be in and then if you get out of that groove on the new asphalt, you’re in big trouble.
“And then you have a third layer of treachery which will be the old asphalt. It will be no man’s land. Nobody will ever want to be on the old asphalt. You’re never going to go there with the expectation of getting underneath somebody or pulling alongside another car to complete a pass. No chance. I don’t know how much we will learn how much faster the new asphalt will be versus the old asphalt, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that there’s going to be multiple grooves, and you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re going to use that old asphalt racing a normal line. You’re never going to want to be in it. Once they work that new asphalt groove in, that’s where you’re gonna have to be, to be competitive.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘can’t wait’ to see first Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway
NASCAR announced this past October it would repave Iowa Speedway, leaving a narrow window for completion with three months of the winter halting all progress. NASCAR repaved what it could before conducting a tire test and as a result, Iowa Speedway looks unique to say the least. Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday that there simply wasn’t enough time to do a full repave of Iowa Speedway.
“Now, aesthetically, it looks a little different than what we would normally go into a facility [and see],” Sawyer said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER. “But we’re confident the repairs are to a high level, and it’s not going to be an issue and we’re still going to have some multi groove racing around the racetrack. We’re looking forward to getting out there and getting cars on the racetrack and seeing exactly how things unfold.
“But as we lead into the weekend, we don’t anticipate any issues with the surface.”
Despite his concerns, Earnhardt “can’t wait” to see how it all plays out at Iowa.
“I hate to be negative about it,” Earnhardt said. “It’s interesting because it sounds negative and I think it’s negative, but I’m intrigued at the same time. While I feel like what I’m gonna see might not be what I prefer to see, I can’t wait to see it.”