Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and many of NASCAR’s top wheelmen gave their opinions on the changes to Sonoma Raceway while speaking with FOX’s Bob Pockrass.
One of those changes is the addition of the inside wall in Turn 11, instead of the tire barrier that’s adorned that part of the track for many moons. It’s certainly going to be different, and caused adjustments to the way each driver takes the turn throughout the weekend.
From Elliott to Hamlin, to other playoff drivers like William Byron, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski, everyone has an opinion. Here’s what each driver had to say about the change to Sonoma Raceway.
Chase Elliott: “It’s fine. There’s wall there. The tire barrier was there before. So, you know, I don’t really have any issues with it. You don’t want to hit — you didn’t want to hit the tire barriers. You also don’t want to hit the wall. So take your pick.”
Denny Hamlin: “It’s a little bit blind, but you’re kind of getting used to it, and understanding the radius of how far I’ve got to turn the wheel to get through the corner without hitting it. So, I think there will definitely be a few that cut it too tight, and risk, you know, knocking a toe-link out, but hopefully it’s not us.”
William Byron: “It definitely makes it hard to see you know, around that corner. If somebody has spun out in the corner, you’re going to have to really rely on your spotter, because I feel like you won’t be able to see ahead of you, as much as before. … I think (my spotter) is stationed in that Turn 10 building there, so I think he’s got a pretty good idea of what’s going on there.”
Christopher Bell: “I guess it’s probably going to make it a little more congested. If there’s a track, you’re not going to have anywhere to go. But other than that, normal racing conditions. I didn’t notice a difference. … It definitely makes it harder to see, but running your normal line, you’re just trying to keep it tucked tight there. It was a little bit harder to see, but other than that, there wasn’t any change.”
Alex Bowman: “I don’t really think we had to drive it differently. I just think it’s odd the way it was pieced together, right? Like, it’s very jagged. A curved wall would’ve been nice. It’s kind of inviting to get under the rumble-strip on entry, because the wall starts further in, and then it gets higher as you go around the corner. I can see if a guy gets, if you get under somebody, it’s going to be really easy for someone to kind of force you down on that wall. Probably break a toe-link pretty easily, but hopefully we’re not in that situation. Same for everybody, right? So we’ve all just got to race it the best we can, and probably a little bit different, but yeah, we’ll see how it goes.”
Brad Keselowski: “It was definitely not what we expected. We’ll see how it races. You know, I don’t know if there’s going to be changes before the race Sunday, but yeah, it’s a pretty significant shift to the race track. … It’s a lot different hitting a wall versus hitting a tire, as you could imagine, and kind of the risk versus reward proposition changes, and that changes the way you race.”
Alas, the overwhelming sentiment seems to be that Turn 11’s wall will cause drivers to race around it in a different fashion, but it shouldn’t have too much of an impact on the entirety of the race. We’ll see if it plays a role during the Cup Series’ trip to Sonoma this Sunday.
The post Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, top NASCAR drivers weigh in on Sonoma track changes appeared first on On3.