NASCAR moves restart zone at COTA to avoid 'nose-to-tail' restarts into Turn 1

This year in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, there is a different layout. NASCAR has moved the restart zone at COTA. Instead of having the restart right before the start-finish line, it has been moved back.

The biggest issue NASCAR has had at COTA is restarts. Drivers are going so fast and are so tightly packed going into Turn 1 that it causes wrecks that could otherwise be avoided. Drivers get doored and shoved off the track, cheapening the racing a little bit.

NASCAR Senior VP of Competition, Elton Sawyer, was on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier in the week. He went over the changes and why they were important to make.

“The restart zone in the past was just before the start/finish line, so you’ve got all 36 cars pretty much nose-to-tail heading off into Turn 1, and at the end of the race, it was risk versus reward,” Sawyer said, via RACER.com. “Guys would just drive off in there, and the next thing you know, we’re 12 (and) 14-wide. I’m exaggerating a little bit but sometimes it looked that way.

“So, working closely with Jeff Burton and our drivers (we tried) to figure out a solution. We did some movements last year at Chicago on the restart zone and felt we had great restarts, had great racing. Obviously, the goal is to have the same at COTA.”

NASCAR hopes that the racing at COTA is cleaner this way. Drivers will have more time to spread out and give each other room before throwing their cars at one another for leverage in the first turn.

NASCAR records falling at COTA

Already this weekend we have seen all three single-lap national series records fall. Connor Zilisch set the Truck Series track record on his way to the pole award. Then, Kyle Larson did the same thing in the Xfinity Series. Already in practice, we have seen the Cup Series record fall as well.

Ty Gibbs, for the moment, has the best lap ever in NASCAR’s history at COTA. That’s only three other occasions before this one, but still, it’s impressive. 2:09.66 is the record before qualifying gets going, and it could drop further. Gibbs is the only NASCAR driver to break the 2:10.00 mark at COTA.

This track is a ton of fun and we are going to get a taste of that today. Both the Truck Series and Xfinity Series are going racing in Austin, Texas today. We have fast lap times, a new restart zone, and a few new faces in each race to make it all interesting and fun for fans at home.

Will we see any surprises today at COTA? NASCAR has worked hard on getting better on this track. F1, IndyCar, and other drivers love coming to COTA to compete in NASCAR. Who do you have taking the wins today and tomorrow?