Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona International Speedway will use a redesigned crossover gate for the Daytona 500 after a crash during a Nationwide race last year scattered debris injuring at least 28 fans.

Track president Joie Chitwood stressed the gate was in development for several years before Kyle Larson's Chevrolet sailed into the catchfence and struck a gate on the last lap of the Feb. 23 race. Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway reinforced its crossover gates with extra cables after an engineering firm reviewed data from the crash and made recommendations.

Chitwood said the new gate, which shuttles fans beneath the fence instead of using a staircase to go through it, was as safe as any of the reinforced gates, and its primary goal was to help usher a crowd of 10,000 more quickly off the infield grass after prerace concerts and festivities.

"It's really about moving fans in and out of our property faster," Chitwood said Thursday during a news conference. "We always want to come up with a better way to get it done because we don't want to ever delay the race while moving fans back to the grandstands."

The new gate, which wasn't the one struck by Larson's car, features an aluminum platform that swings open and a winch that retracts the SAFER barrier on a hinge. The bottom of the mesh fencing lifts up to create a passageway for fans to travel between infield and the grandstands. The design was approved by the University of Nebraska's Midwest Roadside Safety Institute, which developed the SAFER barrier.

The new crossover gate is part of Daytona Rising, a $400 million renovation of the 2.5-mile track that plays host to NASCAR's season-opening crown jewel, the Daytona 500. The project, which aims to overhaul Daytona's grandstands with modern-day amenities of a professional stadium such as escalators, wider concourses and improved sight lines, is scheduled for completion at the 2016 Daytona 500.

"(The crossover gate) is separate from what occurred in 2013 from a fence perspective," Chitwood said. "This was something in the making years ago.

"What we've seen from last year to now is how we improved the gates, so there's no difference between their improvement and how the mesh fence is with no crossover gate. This is going to be as safe as everything else we do."

If the new gate is deemed a success during Speedweeks this year, the track will replace its other nine crossover gates on the frontstretch. Chitwood said Talladega Superspeedway also would employ the converted gates for its May 4 race, and he believes more tracks might employ the concept.

The unveiling of the new crossover gate came during a tour of the Daytona Rising construction site, which currently features new steel skeletons sprouting above both ends of the frontstretch grandstands. Chitwood said fans will walk through work zones to their seats but anticipates no delays because there won't be construction while races are in progress and fans are on property.

There will be no new seats available this year, but the track will offer both old and new seats in 2015. Chitwood said the track will add more than 200 staff members to help guide fans to their seats while construction is under way.

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