Parks Pit Report: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

Road courses are not exactly the bread and butter of the NASCAR season.  Two races every year involving right turns make for a unique experience for all drivers, teams, and fans.

The bread and butter of the season are the intermediate tracks, the main course if one were to describe it.  The appetizer could be the plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega, while short tracks are dessert.  Road courses, they could be the meal one would try once, and they either love it or hate it.

At the same time, the two road courses each year are vastly different.

Sonoma, which was ran in June, is sort of the short track of NASCAR’s road racing.  There’s a lot of tight turns, and mainly one line to run.  The driver has a lot of input into making a strong run.

On the opposite side, Watkins Glen could be considered the speedway of road racing.  Here, the track has some tight turns, but is incredibly quick in many areas.  On the backstretch alone there are moments where speeds are above 180 MPH.  If NASCAR didn’t add in the inner loop, or “bus stop” as it’s also known, there is no question these cars would hit almost 200 MPH entering turn 5, the “Carousel” as it’s nicknamed.

Many spots on the track are already incredibly quick, but since the track got repaved after last year’s race, it has become even faster.  The rumble curbs are bigger, and have already shown that they can do damage when they are hit too fast.

It also means that this track has one other characteristic that is similar to the big speedways:  aerodynamics.

One wouldn’t think that damage to the nose or corners would be important at a road course, but at the speeds being raced at Watkins Glen, aerodynamics are incredibly important.  Jeff Gordon, still substituting for the recovering Dale Earnhardt Jr, experienced that when he accidentally got into the back of Austin Dillon.  He immediately told the crew he had no front grip because of the damage.  He came in just to get it fixed, and did so.

It shows how different Sonoma and the Glen are, and how different the crews attack the pit stops.  With pit road being reversed, teams almost pit the car backwards.  This year, teams were treating it like a normal stop, and were changing the right side tires first, but the difference being the right side was closest to pit wall.  Then once the crew is done on the left, the driver must wait till the crew is at pit wall before they pull out, just to avoid hitting a crewman.

Watkins Glen is very different from any course on the circuit, but when it can differentiate from the other road course, that says something.

The final thing that made it different, and call it something that only a few teams did simply because it’s an optional rule at road courses but only seen here, is they were running wipers.  In Cup competition, the only time that racing in wet or rainy conditions is on a road course, and historically the Glen has a better chance of that happening instead of Sonoma.  So, guess teams were preparing for it, as the wipers were one of three items that would be installed on the cars if it did rain.

But, luckily, it didn’t rain.  And after a race where rain and fog ruined the on-track action, that was a welcome sight.

Road racing, something that some love, some hate, and some even want more of.  It’s here to stay, so may as well enjoy it.

RESULTS:  1-Hamlin  2-Logano  3-Keselowski  4-Allmendinger  5-Stewart  6-Kyle Busch  7-Truex Jr.  8-McMurray  9-Bayne  10-Kenseth

NOTABLE FINISHES:  11-Kurt Busch  15-Gordon  16-Edwards  32-Harvick  40-Johnson

CAUTIONS:  8 for 20 laps.  Lap 14-15 (Debris-T5); 49-52 (Debris-Pit Road); 54-56 (#3, 16, 17 and 48 Accident-T5, Red Flag-13 Mins, 19 Secs.); 58-59 (#15,19,23,55 Accident-T5); 66-67 (Debris-Inner Loop); 78-80 (Oil on track); 82-83 (#31 Spin-T1); 85-86 (#4, 10, 23, 34, 43, 83, 95 Accident-Inner Loop, Red Flag-16 Mins, 44 Secs.).

LEAD CHANGES:  9 among 8 drivers.  C. Edwards 1-25; M. Truex Jr. 26; J. Logano 27-33; D. Patrick 34-44; Kyle Busch 45-48; B. Keselowski 49; Kurt Busch 50-52; J. Logano 53; B. Keselowski 54-80; D. Hamlin 81-90.

TIME OF RACE:  2 Hrs, 27 Mins, 48 Secs.

AVERAGE SPEED:  89.513 MPH

MARGIN OF VICTORY:  2.065 Seconds

*CHASE GRID:  1. Keselowski-727 (Points), 4 (wins); 2. Kyle Busch-670, 4; 3. Edwards-653, 2; 4. Hamlin-620, 2; 5. Kenseth-600, 2; 6. Johnson-578, 2; 7. Harvick-718, 1; 8. Kurt Busch-689, 1; 9. Logano-652, 1; 10. Truex Jr.-612, 1; 11. Stewart-389, 1; 12. Newman, -165 (From 1st-Keselowski); 13. Elliott, -166; 14. Dillon, -168; 15. McMurray, -177; 16. Larson, -207.

*Chris Buescher sits three points out of 30th in the driver standings with one win.  To be in the Chase, he must make the top-30 at the conclusion of the regular season at Richmond.