Thursday, August 12, 2010

New Daytona Track Surface Gradually Takes Shape

Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, NASCARLike a Marine recruit getting a haircut, the Daytona International Speedway track surface is being stripped to the sand as the repaving of the 2.5-mile speedway wrapped up its fifth week.

Working under the hot Florida sun, workers using heavy machinery continued to strip the asphalt from turn four while also putting new asphalt down on the frontstretch and backstretch. The first two layers of asphalt have been placed on these stretches.

Meanwhile, graders work to smooth the under-surface in turn three and put down asphalt primer, moving into turn four as the asphalt was removed there.

Also removed this week was the concrete patch (shown at right) that was installed in turn two following this year's Daytona 500, which NASCAR had to red-flag twice for repair work after the track surface in that turn began to break up.

Fans who are coming to the race next year and also want a piece of the old asphalt have until midnight Sunday to order tickets in a special offer that includes a piece of the old track with a ticket purchase.

Lane Construction, which has paved other International Speedway Corp. tracks, is expected to complete the work by Jan. 1. Speedweeks 2011 kicks off next Jan. 29 with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The 53rd annual Daytona 500 is Feb. 20.

The company expects to use about 50,000 tons of asphalt to repave the speedway, which has more than 1.4 million square feet of track surface.
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