Phoenix Raceway To Undergo $178 Million Overhaul

By ESPN

Restarts typically get crazy for NASCAR drivers as they jockey for positions when restarting double file.

The restarts at Phoenix Raceway will get a little more crazy starting in November 2018.

The 1-mile track will undergo a $178 million overhaul with the construction of a new grandstand that extends where the current grandstand ends in Turn 1.

With the change, the track will move the start-finish line to Turn 2, just before the dogleg. The change will take place prior to the November 2018 NASCAR race at the track, which also is gradually dropping the "International" from its name.

"Turn 1 right now ... is a very, very narrow entry and it opens up on exit and you can't go three-wide," said Team Penske driver Joey Logano. "You saw what happened in the fall when someone tries to go three wide -- it just doesn't work.

"Where the start-finish line is being before the dogleg, it makes perfect sense to me to make it just a total cluster. ... It will be easy to go three-wide [into old Turn 3], you'll go four-wide and there will be someone that goes five-wide probably."

The change is expected to be a little more dramatic for NASCAR drivers than IndyCar because NASCAR drivers tend to use the apron in the dogleg to cut the turn. The transition from the apron to the banking is somewhat violent but a stock car can handle it. An IndyCar cannot. So NASCAR drivers will likely dive down on restarts, hoping to get position and momentum and then will try to squeeze into position in what is currently Turns 3-4.

"The cars are going to slip up, we will crash -- but you definitely will have excitement," Logano said about the first two turns after a restart. "You'll have slide jobs, you'll have cars going up and down the race track, you'll have cars two-three lanes below the yellow line and you'll have cars that are three lanes above the yellow line.

"It is going to be insane. And that's good. That's a good thing. That's what we want for our sport."

The challenge for IndyCar drivers will be to decide whether they need to be better in what is currently Turns 1 and 2 than they would be in Turns 3 and 4 so they can be at their best when coming to the checkered flag.

"You'll have enough of a run in the final laps to get alongside someone into Turn 1 [that will now be Turn 4]," said Indy 500 champ Alexander Rossi. "You'll need to make sure you are good enough there.

"That's really the only change. The restarts, I don't think it will have that much of an impact on us because at that speed with the grip that we have, it will be irrelevant."

Among the key elements of the project:

* Gone are the 211 infield camping spots, replaced by a fan zone that fans can enter through a new pedestrian tunnel. Those infield campers will get priority in areas outside the track.

* The decades-old frontstretch grandstands will be demolished, with the new grandstands featuring a new scoring tower as well as a new spotter stand. Permanent seating capacity will drop from 51,000 to 45,000. The new grandstands will all be single seats (the current frontstretch grandstands are bleachers).

* The track plans for WiFi capability in the entire complex. A new midway area, sponsored by DC Solar, will include a restaurant and bar. The grandstands will be much like Daytona, with two major entrances with escalators. The track can sell sponsorship for its entrances, much like Daytona did with what it called "injectors" -- Phoenix is calling them "canyons."

* A new state-of-the-art medical center will be built in the infield. It will include X-ray capability. The track is one of the few on the NASCAR circuit that doesn't have it.

* A new media center and garages will be built in the infield.

What will happen to those who have tickets in the current frontstretch grandstands? The fans with season tickets will get priority in choosing where they want to sit in the new grandstands, followed by those who have bought multiple-day tickets for current races.

Track president Brian Sperber said he expects some ticket prices to increase but some of the prices in the existing grandstands in Turn 1 will decrease.

"Most fans know if you're getting all this benefit -- new seats, escalators, fan zones and tunnels -- I think it's expected that there would be some level of price increase," Sperber said. "We're working hard to make sure it is modest."