The end of last year’s Cup race at COTA saw chaos and crashes. Depending on your point of view, those final restarts were either exciting or appalling.
NASCAR hopes to avoid a repeat of what happened by moving the restart zone. Last year, the restart zone was shortly before the start/finish line. This year, it will be moved back to just beyond the exit of Turn 20 (the last corner before the frontstretch).
The belief is that by having the leaders accelerate while others are just getting through the corner or yet to do so will spread the field out before getting to Turn 1, a sharp left-hand turn.
— NBC Sports —