Rolex 24 drivers have mixed feelings about Daytona’s new Bus Stop

In NASCAR’s summer season Cup race at Daytona in 2023, Ryan Preece took a terrifying flip by the grass, fortunately strolling away from the airborne incident with solely minor accidents. The game — and Daytona Worldwide Speedway — reacted shortly, repaving the realm of the backstretch main into the flip formally often known as Le Mans chicane, however nonetheless popularly referred to as Bus Cease.

Since then, extra modifications have been made. The grass is gone and the curbing has been reshaped and raised, making for a tighter nook. And within the eyes of some drivers, the enduring nook at Daytona is so much much less enjoyable now. 

After every week of observe and setup, simply earlier than the inexperienced flag drops, it is wanting like Bus Cease may very well be as massive an element within the race as ever.

A bit like a “parking zone”

Matt Campbell, the defending total winner on the Rolex 24, will get why the modifications had been made — he is simply unsure they’re going to make for higher racing.

“There’s been slight changes each single 12 months that I have been part of it, however this 12 months is essentially the most change,” Campbell informed Motorsport. “I feel there’s good features and dangerous features. From a runoff perspective, it is possibly slightly bit safer and simpler to keep away from a nasty state of affairs or incident however definitely it is taken away slightly little bit of the enjoyment issue as a result of it is slightly bit slower, slightly bit tighter. It appears like slightly little bit of a parking zone.”

Campbell, set to make his seventh consecutive look on the Rolex 24, is not alone in that analysis. It is extra than simply lamenting the aesthetics, his Porsche Penske teammate Mathieu Jaminet, the 2022 GTD Professional class winner at Daytona, explains. 

“If in case you have no vehicles in entrance of you [at night], you simply arrive and go, ‘The place’s the nook?'” mentioned Jaminet. “You do not see any inexperienced half anymore, so it is actually made it difficult for the motive force.”

Jaminet mentioned that the curbing has made the nook really feel slower, and that the modifications “barely killed the move in direction of the exit… For instance, the second a part of the chicane.”

He is not in opposition to the brand new problem that the up to date Bus Cease affords, and has a glass-half-full take. As Jaminet put it, the up to date model “requires now a bit extra abilities from the motive force.” He thinks that may very well be an excellent factor. “It is not that straightforward to undergo.”

An even bigger threat issue

If Jaminet may make a suggestion, the French driver needs Daytona Worldwide Speedway would have saved the grass. Whereas the transfer was made to make NASCAR racing safer on the excessive banks, it would embolden drivers to try riskier overtakes within the Rolex 24.

“Do the identical structure however with grass round,” he mentioned. “I feel we might keep away from some slicing right here and there. Now I really feel like persons are extra content material to strive some loopy overtakes, as a result of they really feel like there’s going to be runoff left and proper. And this isn’t what you need to see, as a result of there may very well be some massive crashes moving into there.”

Each Jaminet and Campbell added that the brand new structure has made organising the automotive trickier and has compelled drivers to regulate their line, particularly when calculating how a lot curb to take. The outdated curbing was beneficiant; the brand new model forces drivers to be extra cautious lest the automotive soar out from beneath them. 

Jaminet believes that Bus Cease — or what’s left of it — is a very powerful nook on the 12-turn, 3.56-mile highway course, and for good cause. Loads of finales have come right down to this well-known nook after 24 hours of tight racing, which units up the ultimate line by the road. And managing the up to date model could make the distinction between the winners and losers on this 12 months’s Rolex 24.