Drivers want oval restart zone moved back to Turn 4
Barfield said Thursday he is considering a change, perhaps in time for Saturday night's Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway.
In previous years, the restart zone was in the middle of the fourth corner. The issue came up as a result of Scott Dixon being wrongly penalized for passing on an aborted restart in last weekend's race at the Milwaukee Mile.
Safety is part of what is driving the request to change; the other is fairness. Drivers in the front row are disadvantaged as trailing competitors lag back to get a jump on them.
Because those in arrears are up to speed quicker than the front row, cars are often three- and four-wide heading to Turn 1. Remarkably, in some cases, there hasn't been a restart accident in any of the three oval races this season.
"Everybody back to 20th can just floor it and fan out," Ryan Briscoe said of what happens. "In the past when we had to accelerate in the middle of the corner, everyone had to tiptoe through the corner because you were still turning, so it wouldn't fan out like that.
"Now, everyone's on the straightaway and everyone just gasses it. It's a mess." Indy Star