The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Iowa Speedway for the first time in history this Sunday. One of the oddest variables one can notice is that the track has been repaved through the corners. While there were initially no plans to do so when the race was announced last October, a closer look revealed issues and warranted the job. One person who isn’t very pleased with the call is Kevin Harvick.
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The retired racer spoke about it on the “Harvick Happy Hour” podcast and said that it was one of the biggest f-ups in the whole year. His words went, “I don’t care how bad it is. You had to run one with the old asphalt. They repaved the race track from the middle of the racetrack down! If you’re going to repave it, repave the whole corner. Because now you’ve got half a race track.”
“This might be one of the biggest f-ups in the whole year.” @KevinHarvick doesn’t like the Iowa Speedway repave.@MambaSmith34 | @KaitlynVincie | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/JJ4ajzY2db
— HarvickHappyHour (@HarvickHappyPod) June 12, 2024
The repave has been done on the bottom lane and in some areas extends a bit higher up. The reason why NASCAR chose to not redo the entire surface was the lack of time. It believes that the individual areas of concern have been addressed and should do the job for the weekend. While Harvick does understand the need, not running a single race on the original asphalt is what doesn’t sit well with him.
He continued, “It is one of the biggest mess-ups we could possibly have this year (…) I’m not sure who made that decision to repave that race track like that. I’m sure there was a scenario that says, ‘Oh, the asphalt was sliding or this or that.’ Big a** patches somewhere in there and at least got through one race with the way the asphalt was.”
NASCAR doesn’t anticipate any trouble with the Iowa Speedway’s surface this weekend
Away from Harvick’s lack of trust, NASCAR is steadfast in its belief that the job that has been done is of the highest order. Elton Sawyer, the Senior Vice President of Competition, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that they’d never wanted to do the repave in the first place and had intended to race on the original surface. But the tire test in May and other analysis had revealed that they couldn’t do so.
Backing the work his team did, Sawyer said, “Now, aesthetically, it looks a little different than what we would normally go into a facility (and see). 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.” The venue is sold out for Sunday’s race.
