NASCAR AMERICA: Drivers fine with Kentucky’s rough surface (VIDEO)

By Chris EstradaJun 27, 2014, 6:15 PM EDT
Leave a comment

Kentucky Speedway’s bumpy surface can not only lead to a few chipped teeth. During a test session earlier this week on the 1.5-mile oval outside Cincinnati, Nationwide Series driver Ryan Blaney disclosed that the rough track caused him to suffer a nose bleed in the car.

Tearing around Kentucky certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. But while the track hasn’t been repaved in more than a decade, that’s also led to multiple grooves for drivers to race with.

And that’s why some of them are emphatically against the idea of a repave. Today on NASCAR AMERICA, Sprint Cup veteran Jeff Burton brought forward some alternate solutions to smoothing out Kentucky – and retaining its high level of racing.

For more clips from NASCAR AMERICA, check out the show’s archive page.

IndyCar teams with NASCAR on IMS road course doubleheader in 2021

IndyCar NASCAR doubleheader 2021
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
By Nate RyanSep 30, 2020, 11:05 AM EDT
Leave a comment

The NTT IndyCar Series will be sharing Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the NASCAR Cup Series in a race weekend doubleheader for the second consecutive season, but both series will be on the road course in August 2021.

IMS announced Wednesday that IndyCar will hold an Aug. 14, 2021 race on its 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. It’ll be a day before NASCAR’s premier series runs the same layout for the first time after the Brickyard 400 was contested on the 2.5-mile oval for the first time in 27 years.

This season’s rescheduling of the IndyCar GMR Grand Prix to July 4, 2019 (a day before the Brickyard 400) led to the first NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader weekend. The Xfinity Series also raced on the IMS road course for the first time July 4 after the IndyCar race ended.

INDYCAR AT IMS THIS WEEKEND: Harvest GP schedule, entry lists

IndyCar will be holding its second race weekend this year at the IMS road course Friday and Saturday with the Harvest GP.

“Our first NASCAR-INDYCAR weekend was a big success last July, with positive feedback from
our loyal fans who watched the races on NBC and from the drivers, teams and participants
involved,” IMS president Douglas Boles said in a statement. “The Xfinity Series’ debut on the IMS road course provided exactly the kind of thrilling action from the green to checkered flags that we anticipated, so we know the teams and drivers of the Cup Series will put on a great show as they turn left and right for the first time at IMS.

“We can’t wait to welcome back fans to see NASCAR and INDYCAR together during this
exciting weekend as we add another memorable chapter in the long, storied history of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”

It also will mark the first NASCAR Cup-IndyCar doubleheader with a crowd as fans weren’t permitted at IMS in July because of the novel coronvavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Over the course of Wednesday, NASCAR is releasing its 36-race slate for next season. IndyCar has yet to release its full 2021 schedule.