I am very confused (when it comes to racing these days, I usually am). I thought the traction compound was supposed to increase the grip of the area of track it is applied to?

Using this website as an explanation for how it works because I couldn't find anything else, my best guess of the issue is indeed one of application.

The compound doesn't completely last. And since the compound is designed to be a "stickier" resin for rubber (to increase grip on the tires), a guess is that if you don't apply a fresh coat (as happened here) or maybe do some sort of thorough cleaning beforehand, the resin parts of the track become "stickier" for "marbles" and other junk. The junk then ends up making the section slicker, not with more grip.

Maybe it's a case of how much compound is present: the compound is strong enough to hold onto marbles easier, but not strong enough to increase grip on tire rubber much.

At any rate, it was pretty easy to see the cars skidding around up in the black resin sections, especially in the sun. I don't think the other ovals (Indy, Gateway, or Iowa) on this year's schedule use the compound, so hopefully no more of that.

when I was young it was my dream to see CART/Indycars on the high banking. Today I can see is not that reasonable to race in places like that

That NASCAR shit ruined the track and any chance we had to put on a decent show. We need to make sure that shit is gone before we run there again. And the tires were awful but Firestone was worried about blistering so we get it – just made for a terrible show.