A second week in a row the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series goes racing in the desert, this time in Phoenix. What used to be called Phoenix International Raceway is now called ISM Raceway after a corporate naming deal was reached. While the setting is similar, in that there is sandy soil nearby, the track and layout are completely different this week. The 1.5-mile Tri-Oval in Vegas gives way to a relatively flat, oddly shaped, 1-mile layout for a 500-kilometer race. Oh yeah that’s right the distance measurement changed too.
ISM Raceway has max banking of just 11 degrees in two of the turns (1&2) while Turns 3&4 are shallower in banking and are generally sharper turns than the other side of the track. The front stretch is just 56 feet wide, making passing very tough at the track and much more like a short track type mentality in racing style. There is one well known passing area known as the “dogleg,” currently part of Turn 2 until the Fall race this year when the start/finish line moves, that allows for a dive bomb type maneuver to get around people and cut distance off the lap too.
There are generally 7-8 cautions a race at this track so there is a decent split between short and long runs and so drivers have to have a car that is really quite good on both, where last week long run speed ruled the day. Goodyear has stated that the tires in use this week won’t fall off that much over the course of a run due to their hardness and the surface conditions of the pavement itself. There will be more two-tire pit stops this week than in week’s prior in all likelihood.
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