@nascarcasm: Why Turn 1 at COTA is the most chaotic corner in NASCAR

It's time we acknowledge Turn 1 at Circuit of The Americas for what it is -- the most diabolical turn on the present-day NASCAR schedule. It holds this distinction for several reasons that @nascarcasm will discuss in the following slides.

THE PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS ALONE

Hear this: Drivers ascend an 11%-grade, 133-foot hill where at the top they suddenly brake, make a tight, hairpin left turn, and hope everyone else can do the same. That just sounds treacherous, even without seeing the turn. If this turn didn't even exist and you read those words in a book, you'd fear for the protagonists.

IT'S THE FIRST TURN DRIVERS HAVE TO CONQUER AFTER TAKING THE GREEN

This isn't like the final massive obstacle that the participants face -- it's the first. Sonoma Raceway has a hairpin turn but that's Turn 11, near the end. At COTA, drivers don't have a series of more manageable turns and kinks before this turn. There’s no warm-up. It's green flag, and then head on into the mouth of this beast. This is like putting The Wall at the start of the "American Ninja Warrior" course.

IT'S UPHILL AND STEEP

As we mentioned before, this is a 133-foot hill that we assure you looks and feels way steeper in person. Picture a scenario where your engine fails or you run out of fuel on your way up this hill. The car would nearly make it to the crest before rolling back down the hill like a weakly rolled Skee-Ball. That's a humiliating scenario that exists nowhere else on the schedule. And I can't wait to see it one day tbh.

THERE'S NO RESPITE ONCE YOU REACH THE TOP OF THE HILL

There is no reward or brief moment of rest once you reach the crest of this hill. You don't take a breather or raise your arms in triumph because you just reached the top of the steps like Rocky Balboa. You're immediately cutting a hard left because there's a super-tight hairpin up there. A 133-foot climb into a U-turn that you're making at the same time as 30-something other heavy stock cars. Everything is fine. Have fun.

YOU CAN'T SEE THE TOP OF IT

You often hear drivers talk about hitting their marks. Well they must do so at the crest of this hill with the added wrinkle of not being able to see their marks until they get to the top. It's like "Hey, I know you can't see your marks and your marks are immediately after you reach the top but be sure to hit them."

YOU HAVE TO BRAKE HARD

You can't race up a hill with 133 feet of elevation and then immediately bust a hard U-turn without braking extremely hard. Someone is going to lock those things up. I've never experienced the throttle-then-braking at race speed in a stock car up there but it's gotta feel like the reverse thrusters once the plane lands.

EVERYONE SITS THERE WAITING FOR YOU TO SCREW UP

The fans know that the chance of seeing multi-car calamity is high at this turn. That's why a bunch of them sit there. Let's be honest -- they're up there rooting for their favorite driver to make it through the turn cleanly, and the rest of them to lock up their brakes and pile into each other blocking the turn like a container ship in the Suez Canal. No pressure drivers, but these folks want to see ERRORS.

IT'S WHERE THEY PUT SPOTTERS

This hill has to be a challenge for the spotters, too. Spotters possess an ability to talk drivers through maelstroms of chaos that I cannot personally fathom. But I cannot imagine trying to talk a driver through something like this other than saying "You're on your own, bud."