'Fans may want it,' but Johnson favors patches
Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
FONTANA, Cal. – Though the pothole that disrupted the Daytona 500 may have caused Jimmie Johnson’s early departure from the race, he’s glad officials have said – so far – they aren't going to repave the entire 2.5-mile track.
“I’m excited that we’re not going to change the surface,” Johnson said.
“I guess the fans may want it resurfaced so we run three-wide for all the laps, but Daytona has separated itself because it’s rough and the asphalt is real porous and wears the tires out.
“I’m on the track’s side and NASCAR’s side, and think they handled things very well. And I’m hopeful that patch gives us a few more years to use the race track as it is.”
Driver Jeff Burton also endorsed the patching process rather than a full-scale repaving.
“It needs work done to it; it’s too rough. It needs to be smoothed out,” Burton said.
“It would be awesome to pave it and do it in a way that it has the grip level that it does today. I think that’s impossible to do, but it would be great if we could.”
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