Catchfence

KurtBush & PatTryson - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET A WIN HERE AT WATKINS GLEN THIS WEEKEND? “We always hope that the right strategy falls our way, whether it’s fuel mileage or tires or even this time around with double-file restarts. You just have to be on top of your game and choose all the right points because if your miss in (Turn) 1, it’s tough to overcome on a road course trying to get back up with the pack or holding off some of the faster cars when you stay out on old tires. We’ll see how it shakes out. Hopefully, it comes down to your car’s speed and the way that you’re able to driver into the braking zones, deep lap after lap. For us, it’s a matter of getting out there with our Miller Lite Dodge and see what we have in qualifying. Practice went really well for us this morning with the fastest time, yet it leaves us with the question of do we leave that style of package for the race, or go to more of a conservative package that will allow the front tires to keep the grip and allow us to drive deep into the braking zones lap after lap. One step is aggressive, one step is on the conservative side and we still have some practice time to figure it out.”

WHY IS TURN 1 HERE AT WATKINS GLEN SO TOUGH AND HOW WILL THAT AFFECT THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS? “Turn 1 is tough because you brake at the top of the hill and then your braking zone is downhill. Over time, the track gets greasier and you want to drive it into that same braking point, but you have to back it up. When you car is going downhill in a braking zone, it’s much harder to stop it (the car) than it is going uphill. The car always wants to drift wide. A lot of times on a downhill braking zone, you can often get axle hop which is where the rear tires begin to lock up because all the weight is up front and you’re going uphill. It makes it a challenge. Restarts won’t be terrible because you’re not up to full-speed going into Turn 1. The track is very wide. It has generous curbs here. The racing curbs here at Watkins Glen are much different than what we see at Sonoma. It has plenty of drift-off room off of Turn 1, so I don’t see restarts being that much of a problem. Leaders, drivers in general, it’s tough to hit your mark lap after lap because you’re going downhill and your car is right on that ragged edge of spinning out each time.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT THE BUS STOP IS HERE? “The backstretch, chicane, bus stop, it has a few names, or Turns 5, 6, 7 and 8, is a challenging part of the course because it’s the best opportunity to pass other cars. The braking zone there is long and straight. It’s flat. You just have the esses that you maneuver through, so if you have speed through the esses, you’re more poised to have a chance to take over somebody going into the chicane. And then you have the challenge of getting out of the bus stop, chicane on putting the forward bite down, making your car turn back to the left and getting that forward bite back into the carousel. It’s a challenging part of the course that can make or break your day. I would probably rank it the No. 2 part of the race track as far as you have to hit your marks.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT HERE SUNDAY WITH DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS? “It won’t be as difficult here as it was in Sonoma. I think Turn 1 is a generous corner. Turn 2 you need to start thinking about getting single-file. The guys will race all the way through the esses double-file. Where at Sonoma, you really have to be single-file by time you get to (Turn) 2. It won’t be that big of an issue. As of late, the last few weeks, looking at Pocono, Watkins Glen, as we’re getting more comfortable, it seems as if there are more risks taken on double-file restarts at the end of these races.

Some guys decided that they were going to stay out. They have old tires, and they’re banking on the competition running into each other that creates more yellows. It’s become a bit disturbing watching these restarts. Everybody is running into each other and a car that was good all day long can have trouble working its way back through the pack and getting a good top-five finish.”

WILL YOU BE RUNNING A PROTOYPE THIS YEAR? “I’ve always enjoyed running the prototypes. The Grand Am cars are a blast. The opportunity at Daytona didn’t come up this year because of sponsorship. Obviously, with the tight economy that we’re in, the sponsorship level was there, but it wasn’t good enough for the two cars to run, so we just did the one car this year. If the opportunity ever came up again, I’d definitely take a shot at the chance. With where we are with our Cup program right now, and to run a one-off Grand Am race during the season, that doesn’t make much sense. Watching those guys last weekend on the X-Games driving the rally cars around and watching Kenny Brack win there, it got me all jazzed up to drive anything. We’ll see how the rest of my career goes. I think Grand Am is a great place to race once a Cup career is concluded or to just keep dabbling in one-off races here or there.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE UPCOMING RACE AT BRISTOL AND HOW RESTARTS WILL AFFECT THE RACING THERE? “Earlier this year, we saw that lapped cars can get just as fast as lead-lap cars towards the end of the race. Nobody was able to pass anybody, but yet cars were running side-by-side. Bristol has become its own unique race track in the fact that the fans said they use to love it because we’d beat and bang and wreck and it was single-file racing. Now, we have double-file racing where we can run side-by-side. Whether we get hung up by a lap car or if it’s for position, now the fans don’t like it as much. It’s a weird quandary, a catch 22. I think Bristol has gone through a couple tire tests. Goodyear is bringing back a different tire and I think that will be the deciding factor on how the racing will be. I’m hoping that it will be better for the fans and the drivers, once we have double-file restarts there.”

YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU WERE DISTURBED (ABOUT POCONO) EARLIER IN YOUR COMMENTS, EXPLAIN DISTURBED? “Pocono, I think, stands out more than most tracks because you can go four wide into Turn 1 and not pay a huge consequence. If you’re running around and just two wide, that’s fine. Four wide is starting to push it. The guy on the inside is going to win. The guy on the outside is going to end up in the fence. Just watching the wrecks last week, just not Turn 1, Turn 2 at Pocono, you can go four wide there, but you have to get down to single file pretty quick. Its race tracks that have the wide entry zones and have the double-file restarts that are going to be interesting over time. Really, it’s just getting down to these end of the races, it seems like it’s every man for himself. You’re digging for a top five, top 10 and you’re going to lay the door into somebody because eight tires turn better than four.

“To me, I thought I had a car to (Pocono), and maybe I’m just jumping out because I saw an opportunity for us to win go out the window. At Pocono last week, 40 (laps) to go, we’re leading by five seconds, a caution comes out, takes away our lead. There was a caution just 10 laps before that where everybody got to put on two tires or four tires. We couldn’t pit because we couldn’t make it to the end on fuel. Then an untimely yellow pops out and the next thing we know, we have to take four tires because we couldn’t take two because our left sides would have been out there for 50 laps. Now we’re starting in 18th place. Wait a minute, 10 laps ago, I was just leading. Now we have double-file restarts, there’s no way that I’m going to be able to come up through the pack with the way everybody drives at the end of the race. I felt like I had a car to win, then with five (laps) to go, I’m just looking for a top-10 finish. That’s what makes it disturbing.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release