3 major upgrades to NASCAR tracks for the 2024 season

The 2024 NASCAR season saw some upgrades to multiple tracks on the calendar, some cosmetic, some related to infrastructure, and some to do with safety concerns from previous races. There were upgrades to cars for specific tracks as well, such as the change in the diffuser being used for the majority of tracks that were shorter than 1-mile and the road courses.

This list will look at all physical upgrades made to the NASCAR tracks for the 2024 season for specific reasons.

3. Charlotte Motor Speedway

Kyle Larson (5) celebrates after winning the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course - Source: Imagn

The Concord-based track, which hosted an Xfinity series race titled 'Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Race' and the Cup Series event Bank of America ROVAL 400 Race earlier this year, saw a new addition to the track in the form of a large LED board.

The signage, installed by Dallas-based GoVision, is one of the 30 largest LED boards in the world. It measures 200 feet wide by 77 feet high and it has more than 700% of pixels than the previous board. It was made functional in time for the races this past October.

2. Hickory Motor Speedway

This track hosted the opening races of the 2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season. The series, which features late model stock cars, began its season at the Newton, North Carolina-based track earlier this year, which saw upgrades in the form of facilities on track.

The track now has new bathrooms and a repaved infield, along with concrete patching and resealing of the racing surface. A grant by the state of North Carolina for the amount of $500,000 allowed these upgrades to be made. The promoter of the speedway, Kevin Piercy spoke about the renovations as he said (via NASCAR.com):

“What we tried to do with the grant that was awarded to Hickory Motor Speedway was do something for everybody. We tried to do the bathrooms in the grandstands so the fans would have a very clean place to go to the bathroom. Nice fixtures and things to use. We also did the bathrooms and the infield for the competitors. We were having a lot of [asphalt] chunks coming up in the infield."

Piercy also explained that they refrained from paving the track to the surprise of many, as doing so would have left them with nothing to renovate the other facilities.

1. Daytona International Speedway

NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. - Source: Imagn

In August 2023, during the NASCAR Cup Series race, Stewart-Haas Racing's #41 Ford, driven by Ryan Preece, was turned by a pit-lane exiting car, leading him to slide on the grass island near the chicane into a large grassy area causing his car to go airborne and flip almost a dozen times before landing.

Following this, in preparation for the 2024 season, the grassy area near the backstretch where Preece went airborne has now been paved over to avoid any further accidents in the future. Other drivers have also spoken out about removing the grass at tracks that are close to the racing surface to avoid their contribution to wrecks since cars that slide from asphalt to grass can flip or roll.