Dover International Speedway to make changes to pit road
By Jeff Gluck - Associate Editor
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Dover International Speedway is undergoing renovations to its pit road.
Dover International Speedway
Changes to pit road at Dover International Speedway will alter some of the traditional storylines at the track beginning this season.
Dover is set to announce Thursday that it is adding a 43rd pit stall and widening pit road by tearing down the current retaining wall and replacing it with one that includes a SAFER barrier. Construction began roughly three weeks ago.
Previously, the track had only 42 pit stalls – forcing the last two cars in the field to share a stall until another competitor fell out of the race – and a narrow pit road that caused many incidents over the years.
Now, pit road will extend further into Turn 4 – allowing for the extra stall – while expanding toward the track's frontstretch apron by nearly five feet.
The old steel wall caused many in the stands to hold their breath after seeing drivers bash into the barrier from accidents started out of Turn 4 or at the start of the frontstretch.
With the installation of a SAFER barrier in that spot, the chances of injury should be greatly reduced. In addition, both drivers and crews will likely be grateful to have a few more feet to navigate pit road.
The new wall means that all grass along the frontstretch will be eliminated, as well as a section of grass in Turn 4.
Drivers often speak of the difficultly getting onto pit road at Dover, but it's unclear whether moving the pit entrance back further into the turn will help or hurt their chances of making it into the pits without incident. In total, the new wall will be 432 feet longer.
The pit road changes are the third phase of what the track is calling its "Monster Makeover." Previously, the so-called Monster Mile revamped its fan zone – including the addition of a 46-foot-tall Monster Monument – added a new skybox complex and refurbished its media center.
“This project is another example of our commitment to making capital improvements to the facility to create an ‘all-new Dover,’” Dover
Motorsports President Denis McGlynn said. “The first two phases of Monster Makeover construction focused on adding new amenities for fans of the Monster Mile. This year we’ll make modifications to the areas that directly impact the competition by widening pit road and creating a safer environment for the crews who are battling in the trenches on race day.”
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13 responses to "Dover International Speedway to make changes to pit road ". Post a Comment.
Bernadette Motherway said:
Jan 7, 2009 at 5:17 PMI can't remember, but is that where Jeff Gordon took that nasty hit on the inside last year? Man what a hit! Ow!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMike Chittick said:
Jan 7, 2009 at 5:34 PMNo. That was at Las Vegas.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAndrew Briscoe said:
Jan 7, 2009 at 8:27 PMNo, this was the place where early in the race, a bunch of cars began spinning out of the turn (turn 2?), and a bunch of the drivers that were then in the Top 12 in points were wrecked. It's where Tony Stewart's famous comment about Elliott Sadler comes from about being within a half mile of him. Gordon's hard wreck was at Las Vegas.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJeff DeGolier said:
Jan 7, 2009 at 8:45 PMI think this is kind of funny that they're doing this now. When they probably won't even have a full field of 43 to worry about!
Report as AbuseWould have been nice about 10 years ago.......
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» Confirm Abuse ReportDavid Guenthner said:
Jan 7, 2009 at 10:06 PMThis IS where Matt Kenseth tried to climb over the water barrels at the entrance to pit road a few years back. I'll bet he's happy to see the change. I'll have to run over there in a few days and get some pic's for my blog.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTimothy Burt said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 4:42 PMI thought Kenseth hit water barrels at Richmond?
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 5:25 PMIsn't it typical they put driver safety as the third phase in the makeover plans and did all the money making pretty stuff first and second.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBernadette Motherway said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 5:31 PMThanks for the info Mike and Andrew. Then I guess they need to rethink the inside wall in Vegas!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportGALEN SHIPP said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 6:33 PMI'm pretty sure that the people at Vegas announced shortly after that race that after seeing the #24 plow into the inside wall they would have SAFER barriers there before the next race.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBernadette Motherway said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 6:53 PMI hope so. And not because it was the 24.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJanice Marler said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 8:44 PMBout time Dover. David where do I find your blog? I'd be interested in reading it.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner Boehmert said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 8:55 PMpersonnal opinion only...why can they not start the pit road entrance at turn 3?..."maybe" that way we won't have the drivers getting run in to from behind like they have been lately...
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBernadette Motherway said:
Jan 9, 2009 at 10:04 PMIs this where the #26 ran into the back of the #88?
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