Circuit of the Americas saw a large number of penalties issued for drivers cutting the course
COTA hosted three NASCAR races. The NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series all took to the track.
NASCAR only enforced track limits through the esses portion of the course. Despite that, a large number of calls were made from the tower.
Throughout the weekend, an astounding 40 penalties were issued between all three races for drivers cutting the course. That number doesn’t include additional penalties from practice and qualifying.
Elton Sawyer comments
“We’re calling balls and strikes on every lap and that’s not really where we want to be,” Elton Sawyer stated via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“I commend our team and 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 pitstops and strategy and things of that nature. Some work to be done.”
Chase Elliott was one of the drivers penalized. The No. 9 team tried to plead their case saying Elliott wheel hopped into the corner.
“They, kept coming up that he wheel hopped, he had got loose, whatever that may be, that’s fair. 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 and say, ‘Look, he got loose, he wheel hopped.’”
Previously, NASCAR ran into similar issues in the chicane of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. They added curbing to help prevent a time advantage from cutting the course. That curbing resulted in heavy damage to many cars and evenly saw the curbing break completely.
NASCAR now plans to take a deeper dive into the number of penalties issued at COTA.
COTA Results: March 24, 2024 (NASCAR Cup Series)
