Michigan track aims to make drivers safer

Extending pit wall should curb chances of possible mishaps

Michigan International Speedway will extend its pit wall by 150 feet toward Turn 4 in time for this weekend’s NASCAR races after two cars had scary impacts on pit road at Pocono Raceway.

The wall will be a temporary barrier with attenuators protecting it, an enhancement that was made following a prerace review by track owner Roger Curtis, International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR, the track said via release.

During the Pocono weekend this month, Kasey Kahne and Jeb Burton slid out of the final turn in eerily similar incidents and made contact with the knee-high, narrow pit wall that separates the track from crewmen and fans on the other side.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the angle of the cars might have served as a wake-up call that such incidents were possible.

Michigan had a similar scary incident on pit road in 2012 when Mark Martin slid off the racetrack, went through the grass and onto pit road, where his car crashed into the edge of a wall. The wall went through his car just behind the driver compartment, and Martin escaped uninjured.

But replays of that incident showed a longer exterior pit wall at Michigan — such as the one being installed now — likely would have stopped Martin from getting all the way to pit road.

In addition, Michigan has completed some previously announced safety improvements. It has added 700 feet of SAFER barrier to pit walls at the entrance and exit of pit road and installed tire packs at the angled Turn 1 interior wall.

Some of the grass at the exit of pit road was also paved to serve as a skid pad, the track said.

After this weekend, Michigan will install 7,500 feet of SAFER barrier to the outside walls on the frontstretch and backstretch as well as the exterior pit road wall in the infield grass.

“We will continue to review the facility and provide updates as circumstances warrant,” the track said.