“It means we lead the field to Turn 1, at least”, Allmendinger said. So we had to come in.
“But otherwise, I think we’re going to add a little more stickiness down and it might be a little bit faster next year”. Points are all but meaningless at this point in the season however. We were top-five every time we went on track, whether it was qualifying or practice, and the whole race we were able to maintain that. For the first time all season, the younger Busch is now eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The remaining spots are decided by points and Gordon is third among winless drivers. Logano additionally gained the season-opening Daytona 500. Busch has four wins.
“I have no idea where we are right now in points, or how all that worked out, but just when you think you get something that is going to go your way, something like this happens”, he said. “We just have to keep fighting and digging”.
Tony Stewart, who qualified third, was competing at Watkins Glen for the first time after missing the previous two Cup races at the track. Unfortunately, he couldn’t deliver a happy ending. Today’s race has an afternoon start time and airs on a hard to find TV channel as well as a live stream online option. We were fortunate to have some good sponsorship from Western New York with Tops and Wegmans back in the day. He was nursing a broken right leg two years ago and sat out last year’s race after the sprint auto he was driving in a race at nearby Canandaigua struck and killed 20-year-old driver Kevin Ward Jr. the night before Stewart was scheduled to race at Watkins Glen.
Stewart was running in fifth place when his vehicle suffered a rear axle failure after a lap 56 restart from a caution. Still, on top of his current challenges with the cars and the regular distractions involved during a race weekend, Stewart will have to deal with the additional media attention brought on by the Ward’s civil action. Maybe not the strongest, but one that can run in the top five (just ask last week’s victor Kenseth).
Road America back on IndyCar schedule: IndyCar officials announced next year’s schedule will include a race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
The global Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen held its 2015 IMRRC Awards Dinner Thursday evening at the Corning Museum of Glass in which Hornish’s boss, Richard Petty, was presented with the Cameron R. Argetsinger Award for Outstanding Contributions to Motorsports. The 60,000 square foot facility, which has a $2.5 million inventory, was introduced at last weekend’s Sprint cup race at Pocono Raceway. He climbed into the machine, and after a little instruction, dug up a few scoops of earth and pavement at the edge of the track near the start/finish line. “I’m impressed. You have more selection here, it’s much more open and the products are fantastic”.
Joseph Shelton – Kyle Busch – Busch is a two-time victor at the Glen, plus with the way he’s running, a road course sweep is not out of the question, especially when you consider that he did it once before in 2008.
While there are some checkouts in each section, there is one large checkout tent with a number of registers, including some self-run ones. Setting his broom down in Victory Lane, Logano then participated in a post-race activity where he officially started the new track repaving project by excavating a portion of the old pavement close to the start/finish line.
