NASCAR exec Elton Sawyer admits there's 'work to be done' on COTA track limits after 40 penalties called

Across the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series races this past weekend at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), NASCAR administered 40 penalties for short-cutting the course.

Additional penalties were handed down during practice and qualifying. NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer admitted on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday that there’s “some work to be done” in officiating track limits moving forward at COTA. Sawyer added there’s been too much spotlight on officiating, and not enough on the drivers and their teams.

#NASCAR's Elton Sawyer admits there's "some work to be done" on their end when it comes to figuring out how to officiate track limits moving forward at @COTA and on other road courses.

🗣️ "It doesn't need to be about the officiating."

More → https://t.co/MKhd9eLXG8 pic.twitter.com/dGQDfy6kYp

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) March 26, 2024

“COTA is very challenging,” Sawyer said. “I would rather go to Daytona, Talladega, Atlanta every day of the week from an officiating standpoint. We’re calling balls and strikes on every lap and that’s not really where we wanna be. I commend our team in the tower. I thought they did a good job but it’s way too much about us and not enough about the athletes and our teams and our pit stops and strategy and things of that nature.

“So, [there’s] some work to be done. Not sure where the announcement is if we will or will not be going back to COTA in 2025. But we’re preparing today on what we can do going forward with the facility. And then how we would officiate it and what the deterrent looks like. Obviously, being out of bounds there and it being a drive-thru penalty, that’s significant. So, a lot of things for us to digest before we get back to COTA.”

Elton Sawyer explains penalties through the esses at COTA

Of the 20-turn, 3.41-mile course, drivers were penalized only for short-cutting the course through the esses. Sawyer said that drivers could shorten their lap time by shortcutting through the esses, thus the need to call penalties due to the advantage that could be gained.

During Sunday’s Cup Series race, Chase Elliott notably received a penalty for short-cutting Turn 4 in the esses. Sawyer explained why during the interview.

“They kept coming up that he wheel hopped. He had got loose, whatever that may be, that’s fair,” Sawyer said, via NBC Sports. “I do believe that, but on the flip side you still have to make the call or every driver, every team is going to be calling up [to the tower] and say, ‘Look, he got loose, he wheel hopped.’”