Texas SAFER Barrier Addition Nearly Complete

Texas Motor Speedway is near completion of installing 2,866 feet of additional SAFER Barrier on select interior and exterior wall areas of the 1.5-mile oval, in preparation for the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR tripleheader scheduled for Nov. 5-8.

This phase is primarily focused on interior walls as well as three exterior sections of the dogleg on the frontstretch. Texas Motor Speedway is adding SAFER Barrier segments on the entire inside wall of the backstretch, inside entry wall in Turn 3 and the interior wall at the entry and exit of pit road. With the existing SAFER Barriers already in place, the entire inside wall of the backstretch from Turn 2 to Turn 3 will have the SAFER walls.

On the dogleg, small exterior sections are being installed directly across from the entry and exit of pit lane as well as at the start/finish line.  The project is scheduled to be completed by Thursday, which also includes re-painting the various logos on the walls.

This addition of SAFER Barrier prior to the AAA Texas 500 race week is the first of three prioritized phases to have the protective wall in place on all the interior and exterior walls of the race track. The second phase, which consists of installation of 2,103 feet of safety barrier, will be completed prior to April's Duck Commander 500 NASCAR doubleheader in 2016.

Commonly referred to as a "soft wall," the SAFER Barrier absorbs kinetic energy when a race car makes contact with the wall, which helps prevent injuries to the driver. A team of engineers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln helped conceptualize the project, which consists of sections of steel tubing backed by foam blocks that are installed 30 inches in front of race tracks' traditional cement walls. The SAFER Barrier debuted in 2002.

The upcoming AAA Texas 500 tripleheader weekend features the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series. The NCWTS WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 will be held Friday, Nov. 6, and be followed by the XFS O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 7, and AAA Texas 500 on Sunday, Nov. 8. For ticket information on the entire race weekend, visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com or call the speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500.