Is a curb the answer to track-limit rules at COTA?

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NASCAR says it will look at the way it handles track limits at Circuit of the Americas after another race where it called several drivers for violating the rules Sunday.

The rule for Turns 3-4-5-6, commonly called the esses, was that a driver couldn’t have all four tires on the non-racing side of the red-and-white curbs that define the apex of the turn. NASCAR had cameras in the area.

They ruled it in a black-and-white way — if their camera system showed the car had all four tires off the track (the system, like the pit-road officiating system, alerts NASCAR when a car appears to be in violation and then is reviewed by an official), a pass-through penalty was called. If it happened at the end of the race, the driver had a 30-second penalty.

There are a few circumstances that make this tough to swallow:

-A driver can have difficulty seeing if right behind another driver, so a driver might inadvertently go off the course and probably not gain any advantage.

-A driver, like Chase Elliott, could lose control of the car and go off the track and obviously doesn’t gain an advantage — and then gets a penalty in addition to those woes.

-In the final laps, a call on this, like what happened to Shane van Gisbergen at the end of the Xfinity race, could leave a sour taste of a great battle.

So what are NASCAR’s options? 

-Put curbs in that area. The problem? That could tear up cars.

-Only penalize when a driver obviously gains time. The problem? That makes it a judgment call, which makes it ripe for NASCAR to be criticized for inconsistencies.

-Allow a driver one warning unless egregious. The problem? At the end of the race, drivers who haven’t been warned would have a significant advantage. 

-Allow the driver to do a stop-and-go (a less harsh penalty than a pass-through in the pits) at an area of the track. The problem? NASCAR doesn’t believe there is a good spot at COTA to do that, unlike other road courses.

-No track limits. The problem? The esses are designed to make drivers turn, so they should be required to turn and not go straight.

There is no great answer.

I feel like there should be track limits because a road course is designed to make drivers turn. And in the case of Elliott, if you get loose or lose control, the penalty on ovals is to hit the wall. So there is a penalty here in the form of a pass-through.

But if the feeling among drivers is that it isn’t fair and difficult to officiate even with cameras, then the answer is a curb or no track limits. I’d lean toward a curb as long as it is safe. If not, then no track limits might be the best-worst answer.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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