BRISTOL, Tenn. — The trend of increased timing zones won’t include this weekend’s events at Thunder Valley.
As first reported by Dustin Long of NBC Sports, NASCAR will not increase the number of timing zones for this week’s events at Bristol Motor Speedway. The number will remain at 14 instead of 18. NASCAR decided not to increase them because it’s comfortable with the number of zones in place.
NASCAR has experimented with increased timing zones since the Brickyard 400 race weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The additional timing lines were also used at Pocono Raceway and Watkins Glen International for the Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Truck Series races.
Speeding penalties in the last three races are up 375 percent compared to the previous three races of Daytona, Kentucky and New Hampshire.
In spite of the decision to not increase the timing zones, Bristol is notorious for speeding penalties. The last four Sprint Cup races have averaged roughly 11 speeding penalties issued. The Food City 500 this past April had 17 speeding penalties issued, which remains the highest number of speeding penalties issued in one race this season.