Watkins Glen Cup Race Thread

[MD24]

Entry list (46 teams)

These 35 teams have a guaranteed starting position
Tony Stewart 14
Jimmie Johnson 48
Jeff Gordon 24
Kurt Busch 2
Denny Hamlin 11
Carl Edwards 99
Kasey Kahne 9
Juan Pablo Montoya 42
Ryan Newman 39
Mark Martin 5
--
Matt Kenseth 17
Greg Biffle 16
Kyle Busch 18
Brian Vickers 83
Clint Bowyer 33
David Reutimann 00
Jeff Burton 31
Marcos Ambrose 47
Joey Logano 20
Jamie McMurray 26
--
Casey Mears 07
Kevin Harvick 29
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88
Martin Truex Jr. 1
Elliott Sadler 19
A.J. Allmendinger 44
Sam Hornish Jr. 77
Reed Sorenson 43
Bobby Labonte 96
David Ragan 6
--
Patrick Carpentier 55
David Stremme 12
Paul Menard 98
Robby Gordon 7
John Andretti 34

The most recent series champion can make the field using the champion's provisional
Terry Labonte 08

These teams have to earn one of the 8 non-guaranteed starting positions
Scott Speed 82
Andy Lally 71
Ron Fellows 09
Joe Nemechek 87
Dave Blaney 66
Brian Simo 36
Tony Raines 37

If qualifying is cancelled, these teams are the least likely to make the field
Max Papis 13
P.J. Jones 04
David Gilliland 70

[Oli_M]

Just read on Jayski that even though Terry Labonte is in the 08 this weekend, Boris Said "reported he would be running the race, but didn't say what car he would be in"

Do we think he may replace a top 35 driver? Or any ideas who may be able to field a car for him?

[MD24]

Boris Said is now listed in the 08

[Jonesi]

Boris Said is now listed in the 08

Jayski now has an update on what happened. With 4 rainout of qualifing at The Glen in the last few years, they put T Labonte down on the entry form so if another rainout happened they would get in on a Championship Provisional. With the weather looking ok, they put Boris back in.

[MD24]

1 Jimmie Johnson
2 Kurt Busch
3 Denny Hamlin
4 Marcos Ambrose
5 David Stremme
6 Ryan Newman
7 Greg Biffle
8 Kyle Busch
9 Boris Said
10 Juan Pablo Montoya
11 Casey Mears
12 Kasey Kahne
13 Tony Stewart
14 Menard
15 Andy Lally
16 Max Papis
17 Patrick Carpentier
18 A J Allmendinger
19 Elliott Sadler
20 Brian Vickers
21 Kevin Harvick
22 Robby Gordon
23 Martin Truex Jr.
24 David Reutimann
25 Jamie McMurray
26 Scott Speed
27 Bobby Labonte
28 Mark Martin
29 Reed Sorenson
30 Jeff Burton
31 Jeff Gordon
32 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
33 Carl Edwards
34 John Andretti
35 Joey Logano
36 Sam Hornish Jr.
37 Ron Fellows
38 Clint Bowyer
39 P. J. Jones
40 David Ragan
41 Dave Blaney
42 Matt Kenseth
43 Tony Ave
44 Joe Nemechek-DNQ
45 Brian Simo -DNQ
46 David Gilliland -DNQ

[harvick#1]

Jayski now has an update on what happened. With 4 rainout of qualifing at The Glen in the last few years, they put T Labonte down on the entry form so if another rainout happened they would get in on a Championship Provisional. With the weather looking ok, they put Boris back in.

I'd rather let Terry run the car, all boris knows what to do is to wreck a car without any care for the owner

[patnicholls]

Relative newcomer to NASCAR here, enjoying what I've seen so far this year :)

Can I make a shout for Marcos Ambrose for the win this weekend? He came from the back to third at Sears Point earlier this year, and I believe did something similar at the Glen last year. Obviously he's from a V8 Supercar background over in Australia, but has been having a decent season all-round.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Relative newcomer to NASCAR here, enjoying what I've seen so far this year :)

Can I make a shout for Marcos Ambrose for the win this weekend? He came from the back to third at Sears Point earlier this year, and I believe did something similar at the Glen last year. Obviously he's from a V8 Supercar background over in Australia, but has been having a decent season all-round.

Of course you can make a shout out for Ambrose, and he of course is at home doing this NASCAR duty on a road course, although the V8 Supercars had less power and more tire; not to mention a more sophisticated suspension and less weight. Still, he has adapted well. The road racing guys who are from sportscars or touring cars such as Marcos don't have to suffer through the lack of downforce like the OW guys like Allmendinger, Speed and Hornish do.

Glad to have you on here, and don't take offense at the natives. They just like to argue and all seem to love NASCAR so I suppose it is just goofy passions.

Just realize the Glen is the last time they turn right this year, and the true forum for these cars is the ovals, although most of us will argue on which ones endlessly!!!

[e2mtt]

I'd rather let Terry run the car, all boris knows what to do is to wreck a car without any care for the owner

This is true. All last year and this year at Infineon, he was a total disaster. Again and again he would drive into corners like he had Le Mans type brakes & downforce, and then crash like a total rookie. He's been ending up with terrible finishes, mangled cars, and lots of other driver's weekends ruined for no reason.

[PA Rick]

I'd rather let Terry run the car, all boris knows what to do is to wreck a car without any care for the owner
Said qualified 9th.

[PA Rick]

This is true. All last year and this year at Infineon, he was a total disaster. Again and again he would drive into corners like he had Le Mans type brakes & downforce, and then crash like a total rookie. He's been ending up with terrible finishes, mangled cars, and lots of other driver's weekends ruined for no reason.


I thought rubbin was racing. He finished the race in 24th place, 13 seconds back..

[harvick#1]

I thought rubbin was racing. He finished the race in 24th place, 13 seconds back..

for a road course specialist, he is a joke, I'd never hire him as a driver.

plus its not were you start, its where you finish, wouldn't surprise me to see Boris getting over anxious and taking guys out again

[Mark in Oshawa]

I have to say I think Boris will mess up that good starting position. Many people in NASCAR land love Boris because he is a great guy, lots of joking and BS and he has the hair, but in results, give me Ron Fellows any time. Ron is protypical Canadian, very quiet, with a dry sense of humour and he isn't blowing his own horn like Boris. Yet look at the results of their head to head competition in similar cars and Ron mops the floor with Boris. Yet Boris was on SPEED last night basking in the adulation of the masses. Talk is cheap...

Ron is fighting a car with a lot of "issues" but I suspect he'll get into the top 20 Sunday. Where I don't know, top 10 I hope

[muggle not]

I kinda like Boris but what is being said is true. He is overly aggressive in the car and does take out to many other cars as a result. That is simply his driving style. He will run over you if you are in his way. He was also like that in Trans Am. I will also take Ron Fellows over Boris any day, much better overall driver. Simo was also a good driver but had too much an ego. Gentilozzi was good but had big financing behind him. I sometimes wonder why he didn't try a Nascar road course try.

as far as Ambrose, he had a darn good run at Infineon and is obviously a good road course driver. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him finish anywhere in the top 5.

[call_me_andrew]

No rain on Saturday until 7PM, but it'll rain all day Sunday (and possibly Monday).

[Jonesi]

No rain on Saturday until 7PM, but it'll rain all day Sunday (and possibly Monday).

Just before the start of the NW race, they showed the new generation rain tires. Which means they finally wrote off those leftover Suzuka wets that were over ten years old and nobody wanted to use.

[call_me_andrew]

The Suzuka wets were written off a long time ago. The rain tires they used last year were manufactured in 2001.

The Suzuka tires were just Martinsville tires that had grooves cared in by hand.

Shame I didn't see those new tires.

[e2mtt]

Watched the Nationwide race today. What fun. Man I love Watkins Glen!

[muggle not]

Watched the Nationwide race today. What fun. Man I love Watkins Glen!
Yeah, it was a fun race to watch. Ambrose looked pretty good. Tomorrow may be even better as there will be more talent in the field. I never, never, count out Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart.

[edv]

Stupid Question: With this talk of rain tires, does NASCAR race in the wet on road courses? I seem to recall a moist race in Montreal?
If so, do they use wipers or Rain-X or something? I also recall a photo of a car with a wiper.

[Jonesi]

Drat, they almost got the race started.

[71minus2]

NASCAR needs to grow a pair and get road courses running in the wet. They are not as dangerous as ovals so this is a no brainer.

[call_me_andrew]

Stupid Question: With this talk of rain tires, does NASCAR race in the wet on road courses? I seem to recall a moist race in Montreal?
If so, do they use wipers or Rain-X or something? I also recall a photo of a car with a wiper.

Currently: Only in the Nationwide and Canadian Tire Series (and possibly the Mexico Corona Series).

Wiper mounts are mandatory, but wipers themselves are optional.

[Jonesi]

Race called, will run Monday at 12:00 (weather permitting)

[dj4monie]

NASCAR needs to grow a pair and get road courses running in the wet. They are not as dangerous as ovals so this is a no brainer.

Has nothing to do with danger. As they clearly saw in Montreal, all the road course guys to check out on NASCAR regulars and never be seen again. They all have experience racing in the rain.

They don't want non regualars with a clear advantage...

[71minus2]

Has nothing to do with danger. As they clearly saw in Montreal, all the road course guys to check out on NASCAR regulars and never be seen again. They all have experience racing in the rain.

They don't want non regualars with a clear advantage...

So nothing will ever change as non experienced wet weather drivers cant get the experience needed unless they move to another form of racing.....something we all know wont happen!

[call_me_andrew]

As they clearly saw in Montreal, all the road course guys to check out on NASCAR regulars and never be seen again.

Marcos Ambrose isn't a regular now?

[harvick#1]

Sorry Nascar, but if you have Wet Tires for a reason, why not race them!!!!!!

play the elements on a road course, as long as there is no standing water, its ok to go, and there whole deal about safety is still absurd with the whole Robby/Joey deal yesterday.

Nascar needs to get rid of Helton and France and for once actually bring a crew that knows how to run a series

[BobbyC]

They should run in the rain, but the call to pull the spotters came at 2:07. Even if we had a 1 PM start, they would have had to start at 1:01 PM and go without any cautions to even get to halfway by the time NASCAR called spotters down for lightning. There was severe rain that ran for an hour, then another few bad spouts that were probably on the level of the type of rain that caused trouble in Adelaide (F1 1991) and Sepang (F1, March).

Even with rain tires, NASCAR would call the race on account of lightning. All sports officials at outdoor sporting events are trained to call events if they see any sign of lightning. You could see the pictures show lightning off Turn 4 and heading down the backstretch. At that point, spectators, spotters, marshals had to leave their positions because of lightning.

In college baseball, play is suspended immediately if lightning is detected and must be suspended a minimum 30 minutes; As long as lightning is in the vicinity of the stadium, the game is suspended. After each lightning strike detected, a 30-minute clock starts. Once a lightning strike is detected, the clock resets to 30 minutes. There must be 30 minutes between the final lightning strike before officials can resume any game.

Even if we had rain tires, the severe conditions that resulted may have called for a delay after the last lightning strike passed.

[call_me_andrew]

Ok, so a 30 minute red flag, no big deal. Then they could race again becuase you don't have to wait for the track to dry.

[nigelred5]

Well, I have to say watching the weather radar off an on all day out on the boat, and then seeing that same system once it made it to my area around 6:00, I can see why they didn't run. It was a lot worse than just a little rain. The people next door losst a 70 foot Maple tree that crushed 4 cars.

[dj4monie]

Marcos Ambrose isn't a regular now?

He's still considered an outsider since he doesn't want to create any enemies, he's a nice guy.

Ambrose is 1.5 seconds back with 10 to go...

[e2mtt]

Tony is the man...

[dj4monie]

Congrats to Tony, good run by him and a pretty much rebuilt team. Be funny if he won the title again after switching from Gibbs.

But in the end its another one of NASCAR's favorite sons wins an event.

Congrats to Marcos Ambrose for getting one place closer to victory lane.

Well I can officially switch off NASCAR for the year, its unavoidable to hear about it because I live in America, but I can shut it out and honestly its money time of WTCC, V8 Supercars, IFM, ALMS, LMS and FIA GT to look forward too.

Viva La Torrents FTW

[call_me_andrew]

I think it's safe to say ISC should look into replacing the tire barrier after turn 9 with a SAFER Barrier.

[PA Rick]

I think it's safe to say ISC should look into replacing the tire barrier after turn 9 with a SAFER Barrier.

They need a bigger runoff area. They may neeed to bring in some fill to allow the Armco to be moved away from the track and straightened. It is stupid to angle the barrier to deflect wrecks back onto the center of the track.

[nigelred5]

I know there are some topotraphic issues both inside and outside of the track, but that whole section of the track has needed work for a long while. Fill in part of the Bog (if the environmentalists will allow it) with the ground they excavate from the hill on the inside of the track and push back both guardrails at least another 20 feet.

[call_me_andrew]

I'm looking at it on Google Maps now. If they cut down one or two trees they could move that wall back about 70 feet, maybe even put in a gravel trap. I'd try to leave most of the hill in tact. I'm sure it would make a good perch for photographers.

[patnicholls]

Of course you can make a shout out for Ambrose, and he of course is at home doing this NASCAR duty on a road course, although the V8 Supercars had less power and more tire; not to mention a more sophisticated suspension and less weight. Still, he has adapted well. The road racing guys who are from sportscars or touring cars such as Marcos don't have to suffer through the lack of downforce like the OW guys like Allmendinger, Speed and Hornish do.

Glad to have you on here, and don't take offense at the natives. They just like to argue and all seem to love NASCAR so I suppose it is just goofy passions.

Just realize the Glen is the last time they turn right this year, and the true forum for these cars is the ovals, although most of us will argue on which ones endlessly!!!

Cheers for the welcome Mark, yeah picking Ambrose to do well on a road course was an easy one really although as you mention it's a different discipline to the V8s in Australia. Still interesting to see a guy from a different background come in and do well though - when you think about it Montoya's having a decent season too although he was always good on the superspeedways in CART.

Yep, still getting my head round the oval formbook - obviously the 'big three' are always up there but then you've got Mark Martin winning plenty of races, Hamlin and the rest for when it comes to the Chase. Looking forward to it!

[The Phantom]

Hey Pat, I come in here from time to time as well, to see how Marcus is going and learn a bit more about the racing. I missed the Nationwide race but got to see the main even last night. Great racing.