The big question going into The Glen was: Now that you’ve seen a NASCAR race in the rain, do you think there should ever be another one on a road course? And would we see another race in the rain this time at Watkins Glen?
First, the answer would all depend upon which series you are talking about, for the Nationwide Series, after watching an exciting race in the rain (on rain tires) last weekend north of the border in Montreal where the road course ringer Ron Fellows in the JR Motorsports/Hendrick Motorsports Chevy won, yes, I would like to see that be an option for all road course races if it needs to be, either to continue the race or to get the race in on its scheduled day. Now we are only talking running a race in the rain on full wet tires in light rain, not downpours and with thunder & lightning.
However if you are talking about the Cup Series, the answer is no, the current car, the COT is not for running in the rain, the Cup drivers already has a hard time running this car in the dry on road courses, I can’t and don’t want to imagine what the racing would look like in the rain while turning left and right. I wouldn’t expect to see the Cup guys racing in the rain for at least 2, 3, 4 years in some cases, of course that all depends upon how the teams, NASCAR, Goodyear or whatever tire manufacturer NASCAR has can finally develop this COT car correctly.
Second, nope, however fans did learn that in the Nationwide Series races on the road course, racing in the rain would be an option and all teams should be ready to do so and even though Saturday at the Glen in the Nationwide race wasn’t in the rain, the race had a couple surprises and no that wouldn’t be 20 double duty drivers, but once again what was a exciting race throughout would have its own entertainment with 20 laps to go.
Kyle Busch, my answer is: you get an aggressive driver, hammer down, do anything to win, but when I think of Jeff Burton, the opposite comes to mind, nice guy, hard, clean racer, so with that said, it surprised me that in those 20 to go that once Busch spun out both himself and Burton out of the lead, that Burton returned the favor, wow, I wasn’t expecting that, but at the same time, Burton didn’t nail him or spin him neither.
But you know, none of that would matter in the outcome, as leader Burton and second place Jimmie Johnson along with Dale Jr. would all run out of fuel and that put Marcos Ambrose in the driver’s seat for the victory, however I was thinking in the back if my mind with 3 to go, that Boris Said might play a role in this outcome consider Said was right up a head, after Said and Ambrose got into it back at Mexico City, but nope, Ambrose would finally win a Nationwide Series race, great job, he earned it.
What does lots of green flag racing, The Big One and the Wood Bros. #21 have to do with Sunday at the Glen? That best described the race itself, a day of the same pit strategy all around turned to the Big One with 8 laps to go when Michael McDowell got together with David Gilland starting off a huge wreck, cars flying everywhere, Bobby Labonte in the #43 and #77 taking some hard hits to the inside after hitting Gilland hard, all of this because of what both #38 and #00 described as a racing incident??? Oh brother, I think both drivers need to go back and watch that, Gilland may have looked like he was coming back down on McDowell and then McDowell lost his car sending the both of them into the outside wall, all I can say is, that was nasty to see, where’s the photo and both drivers are to blame…
In the end, I have to give it to Marcos Ambrose and the Wood Bros., a third place finish for a struggling team is huge, I hated seeing the Wood Bros. not qualify for several races so far this season, what a run for the both of them on Sunday, that was a victory in my book hands down.
One question, did anyone read an article called “The Detroit Three get down to the business of NASCAR.” By Peter M. De Lorenzo that was published on Autoextremist.com which goes into detail about just what various Detroit auto company executives in attendance at the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis talked about with NASCAR, according to the author, it’s the Detroit Three NASCAR “wishlist”, the wishlist has some serious proposals on all three of NASCARs major series? I did and I’m still thinking about it...
Ironically enough, the photo below of Reed Sorenson drives away after being one of nine cars involved in a wreck that halted the race, bringing out the fourth caution at lap 84, describes both the wreck and the article mentioned above, because if all goes into effect, NASCAR will not be the same and it will not be the NASCAR of old neither.
(Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)
- Racedriven
0 Comments:
Post a Comment