NASCAR has added a series of tyre bundles in the Turn 1 run-off as well as a 68-metre tyre wall exiting the Turn 5 carousel.
The latter tyre wall begins with a six-metre gap to the track’s edge where the rumble strip is and runs at an angle that will leave just 1.5 metres between the rumble strip and the edge of the wall.
The measures are designed to stop drivers from running wide and coming back onto the track into the path of another car.
Van Gisbergen, however, has some concerns.
“I think Turn 1 is a really good solution. What they’ve done with the tyre packs there and having the gaps in the walls is going to work okay,” said van Gisbergen.
“The exit of the carousel is a bit of a worry. The angle that it comes back on.
“My experience with those tyre walls is they grab cars and spit them out.
“I don’t like the look of that, but smarter people have come up with those things.”
NASCAR’s senior director, racing communications Amanda Ellis said the governing body wanted to limit the potential for drivers to blow the corner exit and return at high speed.
“There is going to be a tyre barrier or a tyre pack coming out of the carousel, and that is an area where we have seen some pretty hard hits,” said Ellis.
“Ultimately, that one is in place from a safety perspective because we want to help control that as much as we can.
“I know that we’ve seen some hard hits in Cup and O’Reilly but specifically I know in the Truck Series we’ve definitely have seen some that… they took some hard hits in that area.
“Some drivers may like it, may not like it. SVG has let his thoughts known, but that won’t be the only change going into Watkins Glen.
“We’re also going to have some tyre packs in Turn 1 and those are essentially in the run-off areas.
“If you go back and you watch parts of the race last year, the drivers were really starting to use that run-off area.
“This, from that perspective, is an opportunity to give them some boundaries in that area but also help get cars back on the track quicker and stay in that racing groove.
“There will be potentially some track limits in that area, but we’re still working through that. We do have a pretty good amount of feedback already received.
“I do know it was also discussed in the drivers meeting that was held at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend.
“Drivers will have a chance to walk the track. If they have questions, obviously NASCAR will be open to that and open to any feedback.
“We don’t expect any surprises heading into the weekend.”
Van Gisbergen will do triple duty for the first time in his NASCAR career, racing in the Truck Series on Saturday, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Sunday, and the Cup Series on Monday.
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