Inner Loop (Turn 5 chicane) Also bus stop

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This chicane was added in 1992 due to a lack of run-off for Turn 6, which is a downhill turn after the fastest part of the circuit. Tommy Kendall was injured in a crash during an IMSA sports car race in 1991. Later in the year, J.D. McDuffie was fatally injured in an accident during the beginning of the NASCAR Winston Cup event.

It is sometimes called the "Bus Stop Chicane" or just "Bus Stop", after the similar section on the old Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium (which serves that exact purpose, back when it was a temporary circuit).

NASCAR stubbornly continues to refer to this chicane as the "inner loop" or "bus stop" or even (rarely) as the "festival section." One driver (John Andretti?) actually had the temerity to refer to the chicane as such on live TV once. He was promptly hauled before the NASCAR officials for a bit of "re-education" NASCAR style....
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Coordinates:   42°19'58"N   76°55'14"W

Comments

  • It's not just NASCAR using the term Inner Loop. The Glen's flagging crew routinely call it that, though, for the sake of brevity in a radio call, it's often simply shortened to just Loop (as in, "just blew the Loop").
  • It is a chicane, not matter what you want to call it.
This article was last modified 16 years ago