Elton Sawyer, NASCAR drivers weigh in on how Iowa repave will affect weekend
Heading into the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway ever, fans and drivers are concerned with the new repave. Only a portion of the track received new pavement and it has been controversial, to say the least.
NASCAR going back to Iowa Speedway is a win for everyone. This is not going to be the largest crowd that has ever been to a race. However, you will have a sellout and enthusiasm unlike many track on the schedule today.
NASCAR claims that there were weather issues that wouldn’t allow them to repave the entire track. They couldn’t do it back in February and March because of the cold weather. Then there wasn’t enough time once it thawed to do an entire repave.
Instead, there is this “Frankenstein” looking patchwork. It’s more than patchwork but short of a full repave.
“The one thing that over time with this facility — obviously the winters are hard in Iowa,” Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said, via NASCAR.com. “It took a toll on the surface. Our goal all along, as we announced this race back in October of last year, was to not repave. But as we started scheduling events, whether it be a tire test and looking at the facility, once we got into the early part of the calendar this year, it was apparent there were some areas we were going to have to take a look at and do some repaving.”
Since being built in 2006, Iowa Speedway had not been repaved. Now it has this strange thing going on. NASCAR still hopes to put on a good show at Iowa.
For ARCA and NASCAR driver Connor Zilisch, it’s a thumbs down.
However, Connor’s friend and Xfinity Series driver, Jesse Love wants to look at the positive side of things.
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Jesse Love gets optimistic about NASCAR repave at Iowa
If you have not been watching the Xfinity Series this year then you might not know a lot about Jesse Love. The rookie is just 19 years old and he has shown maturity beyond his years behind the wheel of the No. 2 RCR Chevy Camaro.
I’d argue that off the track he is showing that same maturity as well. While others have been talking about what is wrong with the track, Love sees it as a challenge.
“Food for thought. It’s a challenge coming here with the repave how it is,” Love posted. “While it’s not ideal. There’s things that can make it exciting. The tracks gonna change a ton throughout the weekend. It’s gonna be hard to pass so restarts will be everything. Drivers will be aggressive.
“Saying this because I think it’s much easier to bash places instead of trying to find the good in it. It’s going to be such a challenge to win this weekend because of it. And drivers will have to adapt quickly.”
Jesse Love has a good head on his shoulders. With the outlook he has on this repave, I like him to be competitive this weekend. Other drivers are going to be dreading it and Love is already excited to take on the new challenge.