Texas Motor Speedway is nearing the finish line on installing 2,866 feet of additional SAFER barrier ahead of the NASCAR tripleheader scheduled to be at the 1.5-mile track Nov. 5-8, the track announced on Wednesday.
In adding the energy-absorbing barrier system, the focus is primarily on the interior walls as well as three exterior sections of the dogleg on the frontstretch of the track. The track is also adding SAFER barrier segments on the entire inside wall of the backstretch, inside entry wall in Turn 3 and the interior wall at both the entry and exit of pit road.
The project, which also includes re-painting various logos on the walls, is scheduled to be completed by Thursday.
Factoring in the track’s existing SAFER barriers, the entire inside wall of the backstretch from Turn 2 to Turn 3 will have SAFER, according to a release from the track.
This is just the first of three prioritized phases to have SAFER barriers on all interior and exterior walls of the track. The second phase, which will see 2,103 feet of SAFER barrier installed, will be completed ahead of the Duck Commander 500 NASCAR doubleheader weekend in April 2016. No details were given about the third phase at this time.
Next month, Texas Motor Speedway hosts the second race of the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the AAA Texas 500 (Nov. 8, 2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM) as well as the NASCAR XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge (Nov. 7, 3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM) and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 (Nov. 6, 8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).