Repaving complete on Lowe's racing surface

From Track Press Release
March 16, 2006
09:02 AM EST (14:02 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- Contractors have finished repaving the racing surface of the 1.5-mile oval at Lowe's Motor Speedway and Jeff Black, the Speedway Motorsports, Inc., paving engineer overseeing the project, says the result is "the best of any track we've ever done."
Sunmount Corp., of Roanoke, Texas, completed work on the racing surface Monday night and Goodyear is scheduled to conduct a tire test March 28-29.
"Everything is right on schedule," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway. "The weather has been very cooperative and the paving is finished between the inside white line and the outside wall."
With paving crews now working on the aprons and pit road, workers have begun re-installing the SAFER barriers which were removed when the $3.5-million project started in early January.
The repaving of the racing surface required in excess of 10,000 tons of asphalt which included a special polymer that increases the material's softening point. The new surface was applied in two layers, a two-inch binder went down first followed by a 1.5-inch finish layer.
An additional 4,000 to 6,000 tons of asphalt will be used to repave the aprons and pit road.
This marks the third time the entire 1.5-mile oval has been repaved since Lowe's Motor Speedway opened in 1960. The first new layer of asphalt was applied in 1973 and the entire track was paved again prior to the 1994 season. In between, the track's corners received fresh coats of asphalt in 1979 and 1987.
Nearly 100 NASCAR teams are expected to participate in six days of testing on the new surface during early May. Nextel Cup cars will be on track May 1-3 with Busch Series teams slated to test May 8-10.