Charlotte Motor Speedway VHT Traction Compound in Use – Kyle Busch Comments

Kyle Busch talks about sticky groove at Charlotte Motor Speedway

After last week’s NASCAR All-Star event, Charlotte Motor Speedway has gone to work to fix the track. They are aiming to make the track wider, bringing in a top groove.

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Charlotte Motor Speedway VHT Traction Compound in Use - Kyle Busch Comments
Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

How? They’ve installed the recently popular VHT compound on just the top groove at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The idea isn’t to make it one groove around the top. Just the opposite, track officials are only trying to promote a second groove. An alternative to the bottom.

It’s the first time NASCAR has used this traction compound at Charlotte. It’s been popular in SMI owned tracks, beginning with Bristol Motor Speedway. This is the first time it has been applied specifically to the top groove.

Following Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for the Coca-Cola 600 a few drivers made it to the press center. Kyle Busch, the NASCAR All-Star winner, was there to discuss the changes to the track.

He tried it a little. Kyle Busch stated, “I got into it a little bit there with 3 and 4. Just kinda running up a little bit for coming to the green for some of our qualifying runs there. We were only making 1 lap runs, so there wasn’t a whole lot going on.”

Discussing the rubber, “The track was really really light to begin with. They run the tire draggers around here and it doesn’t put the rubber down like it needs to unfortunately.”

I don’t know why the track is so light. But they need to put more pressure on that thing or something

-Kyle Busch

“I don’t know why the track is so light. But they need to put more pressure on that thing or something, I don’t know. To get it blacker, it’s not very black. It was very dusty as we all rolled off this morning. Interesting there.”

“Other than that, the cars were starting the put the rubber down. It was starting to get more black as practice progressed. But you get outside of that black, just a little bit and it was pretty slick. We definitely need to continue to just make the track wider. I’m sure the Xfinity race will do that and hopefully make it for a really good Sunday.”

Kyle Busch has seen it used like this before, “I’ve only ever used the traction compound, it’s probably not the same one, but years ago at my home track they put it down in the outside groove. To try and make an outside groove there. it wasn’t noticeable the first week that they did it. It took a few weeks to kinda get wore in and groomed. Then it was actually not bad. I don’t know if we can groom it that fast, in just one week, but we’ll see.”

In Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice several cars got into the wall. It’s lending questions to weither or not the traction compound was causing it. But that’s just something else to pay attention to throughout the Coca-Cola 600 weekend.

LINKS

Charlotte Motor Speedway
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NASCAR
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Speedway Motorsports Inc
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Shane Walters
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