by CONCORD, N.C. – Three former Cup champions say the violence they feel in the car as they go over the blue curbs at the Charlotte Roval chicane is comparable to the feeling they felt at Watkins Glen before any changes were made there.
“It feels like you get a concussion every round,” former series champion Martin Truex Jr. said Saturday.
When asked about Truex’s comment, two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch responded, “I’m glad someone said that.”
Former Cup winner Brad Keselowski compared what he felt in the car as he hit the curb to what he felt at Watkins Glen, saying it was “definitely just as intense. Maybe even a little more so.”
A NASCAR spokesman told NBC Sports that series officials are investigating the matter ahead of Sunday’s race (2 p.m. ET on NBC).
Joey Logano delivered supplies to Western North Carolina on Friday and thought about what else he could do.
Although the focus was on the addition of Hairpin Turn 7 to the Roval, the front chicane was also changed this year. The right-hand bend in the chicane became narrower, making the corner sharper.
While it’s easy to tell drivers not to drive over the curb, that’s not realistic.
“That (curb ride) over there…if you don’t speed them up (in the front chicane, you miss the exit, you miss the second set of them”),” Busch said. “You have to speed them up just to have a chance of not missing the exits.”
The New Zealand native earns his first Cup pole in his 12th start after qualifying first in Xfinity the previous Saturday.
Michael McDowell agrees that hitting the curb has an impact.
“It’s definitely not smooth,” he said. “I don’t feel like it feels like a concussion. We have our mouthpiece data. I’m sure we’ll take a look at it and see what it looks like.”
Some – but not all – drivers wear mouthpiece sensors in their cars. The mouthpiece sensors measure what happens to a driver’s head in an accident.
The curbs in the bus stop section of Watkins Glen were changed before this year’s race based on data from the mouthpiece sensors that riders wore in last year’s race. The data showed how much pressure drivers experienced while driving over these curbs.
