|
Getty Images for NASCAR (August 10, 2012) |
Maybe because NASCAR only visits road courses twice a year. Maybe because the when the left turrn leaguers also make right hand turns, it brings a whole group of drivers into the conversation we never talk about. Maybe because it's just different. What ever it is I love road course racing and I wish NASCAR did more of it. Although it might make it a little less special.
Since we don't I will have to settle for the two trips NASCAR takes to the road courses, the second of which is this weekend at Watkins Glenn.
"Watkins Glen is one of my favorite race tracks and it's definitely been good to me in the past," said defending race winner Marcos Ambrose. "It will always have a special place in my heart because it's where I got my first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. It's a track that suits my driving style, and I have a lot of success there in both the Nationwide and Cup Series."
And in recent history for sure, you want to start all conversations about road course racing with Ambrose. He is very good at the right and left turners. Of course Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon have always been good on the road courses. Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick also have wins at the Glen. And when you look at that Harvick win or the win by Clint Bowyer earlier this year at Sonoma and it's clear that road course racing has become less off a specialty and more of a necessity for NASCAR drivers. It used to be that the field was packed with road course ringers. But not anymore. These days drivers want to perform as well at a road course as they would at say Atlanta, Bristol or Pocono.
"They are pretty much just another race now," said Harvick. "I think everybody knows that you are going to a road course and you've got a lot of different aspects from a driver's standpoint and the team standpoint that you have to pay attention to."
Since we don't I will have to settle for the two trips NASCAR takes to the road courses, the second of which is this weekend at Watkins Glenn.
"Watkins Glen is one of my favorite race tracks and it's definitely been good to me in the past," said defending race winner Marcos Ambrose. "It will always have a special place in my heart because it's where I got my first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. It's a track that suits my driving style, and I have a lot of success there in both the Nationwide and Cup Series."
And in recent history for sure, you want to start all conversations about road course racing with Ambrose. He is very good at the right and left turners. Of course Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon have always been good on the road courses. Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick also have wins at the Glen. And when you look at that Harvick win or the win by Clint Bowyer earlier this year at Sonoma and it's clear that road course racing has become less off a specialty and more of a necessity for NASCAR drivers. It used to be that the field was packed with road course ringers. But not anymore. These days drivers want to perform as well at a road course as they would at say Atlanta, Bristol or Pocono.
"They are pretty much just another race now," said Harvick. "I think everybody knows that you are going to a road course and you've got a lot of different aspects from a driver's standpoint and the team standpoint that you have to pay attention to."
