Kyle Busch on Pole at Watkins Glen; Driver Quotes Following Qualifying

First pole of 2011 for Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch, with a qualifying lap speed of 126.421 mph, captured the Coors Light Pole Award at Watkins Glen.

Busch, who set a new track qualifying record (previously 124.580 mph, set by Jeff Gordon in 2003) received his first series pole of the 2011 season, his eighth series career pole and his first series pole at The Glen.

Sharing the front row with Busch on the outside pole, and with a qualifying lap speed of 126.041 mph, will be AJ Allmendinger, and they will be followed by Marcos Ambrose (125.984), Jimmie Johnson (125.663) and Juan Pablo Montoya (125.654).

Rounding out the top-ten starting positions will be Ryan Newman (125.314), Tony Stewart (125.238), Carl Edwards (125.202), Martin Truex Jr. (124.968) and Regan Smith (124.940).

Failing to make the starting lineup were Dave Blaney, Brian Simo and PJ Jones.

Starting Lineup 


DRIVER QUOTES FOLLOWING WATKINS GLEN QUALIFYING

BRAD KESELOWSKI QUALIFIED 12TH: “I thought that is was a really good lap for our Miller Lite Dodge Charger. I probably under-drove the lap just a little bit. It was a really good effort by this No. 2 Miller Lite crew for giving me a fast race car. I’m still new to these road courses and to start 12th is a good effort by our team.

“You have to put yourself in position tomorrow to keep your race car clean and stay out of trouble. We know that fuel mileage will be important. I’ve got a great team with Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) leading the charge. I think that we have a consistent race car in every corner. I need just a little bit more speed in the center of the corner and then I think we’ll be really fast. A great effort.”

KURT BUSCH QUALIFIED 27TH: “I guess we just got a little too aggressive in the run with our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger. I felt like I was getting behind and had to push the car too hard. I just missed it through the bus stop and then wild and not very smooth at all through the esses. It looks like we’ll be playing catch-up for the first portion of the race here tomorrow.”

ROBBY GORDON QUALIFIED 31ST: “I think that we have a good race car. When PJ’s (Jones) car had a problem, it kind of took the wind out of my sails. I knew that I had to get our SPEED Energy Dodge in the show. I just ran a conservative lap to make sure we’d race tomorrow. If you’re in the show, you have a shot at winning the race.”

Ragan has 27.8 average finish in four starts at the Glen

DAVID RAGAN QUALIFIED 16TH: “I think I probably hit 80 percent of my marks. It’s real tough for me to get in a rhythm just in one lap. I’d much rather have that two or three lap qualifying like the Nationwide cars do. That would help me a lot, but that was a good pickup from yesterday. This is certainly not my strongest race track up here, so it seems like every time we go out we improve, but so does our competition. I think we’ve made some good strides here. We still have a lot of work to do, but our UPS team is ready to have a smart race on Sunday or Monday, whatever happens. We just need to get out of here with a top 15 or top 20 finish and not lose any points because then we can go be aggressive the next four.”

CARL EDWARDS QUALIFIED 8TH: “I thought I had a pretty good lap going. It felt like a pole lap until I got to the bus stop and then I came to a full stop, I let all the passengers on, I collected the toll, and then I took off again. I did my best. I put in all the effort I could after that, but I’ve just got to thank Ortho for being on board – Ortho, Aflac, Scotts, Ford. I’m excited about this race. Even if we don’t get it in tomorrow, it’s gonna be a good race. It’s one of my favorite race tracks and we’d love to get a win here at a road course.”

Ambrose looked the best on Friday and Saturday combined

MARCOS AMBROSE QUALIFIED 3RD ON HIS LAP AND CAR: “It was OK. It was maybe a little bit too conservative. I would have sort of like to have done a nine-something, but I’m really proud of my Stanley team. It’s been a lot of fun this weekend. We’ve got a great chance to win the race and I’m really happy with our race setup. I just hope it goes our way.”

IT WAS JUST OK? “Yeah, it could have been a little better, but it doesn’t matter. We’ve got the Stanley car up front and I’m just really proud of my opportunity here at Richard Petty Motorsports. I’m looking forward to a really good Sunday. We had a tough Sonoma that didn’t quite go to plan, but this weekend so far has gone great. I’m excited about our chances. I’m just really proud of Stanley for giving me the chance to come here and try to get it done.”

DOES THIS CAR FEEL LIKE PAST YEARS WHEN YOU’VE FINISHED SECOND OR THIRD HERE? “Yeah, it feels really good. I’m confident for tomorrow, I’ve just got to make sure that we keep the fenders on it, look out for the brakes, and the rest will come to us.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER QUALIFIED 2ND ON MAYBE BEING DISAPPOINTED: “Yeah, a little bit, but to be on the front row with the Best Buy Ford here is pretty good. It’s Kyle Busch. He’s pretty good at this. I think when he gets older he might be pretty good at this sport (laughing). At least it wasn’t that close. If he beat my by like a hundredth, I know where I lost a little bit like two-tenths, but I’m proud of everybody on the Best Buy Ford and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports. I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty cool to beat Marcos. He’s the man, so to be able to put up a lap a little bit better than him is cool. I think he’s still gonna be the guy to beat, but we’ve got a great starting spot and it’s a great day.”

SCOTT SPEED QUALIFIED 29TH: “Our strategy for the race tomorrow is to save our stuff as much as we can in the first half of the race and hopefully get a caution halfway through and then start to attack. For us, qualifying isn’t super-critical and the bottom line is we’ve got to make the race, so we have to put in conservative qualifying efforts at the moment. It is what it is, but the car should be good for tomorrow and hopefully all things go well and we have a good showing.”

Kyle Busch won at Watkins Glen in 2008, Sonoma as well.

KYLE BUSCH QUALIFIED 1ST, ON HOW HE FEELS FOR RACE DAY: “We were confident going in before. Certainly we knew we had a great race car this weekend. The M&M’s boys brought a great race car to the race track here, so I can’t say enough about all the guys at Toyota and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and everybody in the engine shop and the chassis shop. It’s cool to come out here and get a pole. Joey (Logano) got it in Sonoma. We got it here. So JGR swept the poles this year at the road courses. Hopefully we can get a win here Sunday and see if we can’t try to get another one. We’ve won here before. We certainly want to win here again.”

“I was actually surprised there with my lap time (differences between q and race trim). I came to the checkered and I’m like, ‘Eh, it was okay. It wasn’t great.’ I felt like I screwed up a little bit here, a little bit there maybe. But maybe those were good screw ups. I don’t know. Overall, it was a fast lap time for what I expected it to be. I thought maybe it would be about a 15 or a 20 or something like that, but not a 70. Race trim is faster this year too. It’s really quick out there, as a matter of fact. Getting into the braking zones, kind of crucial and being able to make sure that you can just make sure you get the throttle down off the corners and get turned. The Bus Stop has obviously been a crucial area here today with everybody qualifying. We seemed to hit it right, so great job by the team.”

“Certainly, the M&M’s guys brought a great race car today (Saturday for qualifying). Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. The chassis shop, the body shop, engine guys. I felt like we were pretty good unloading off the truck and we’ve just kind of kept that pace up this weekend. A lot has to do with how you unload and how you feel and everything and coming to this race weekend prepared and felt like I was ready to do battle with these guys knowing that it’s a tough race track. It’s certainly a road course event, which throws a lot of characteristics into the racing that we don’t typically see at an oval. All in all the lap was pretty good. It seemed to be a clean lap. There was a couple moments in which I slipped and didn’t think I did that great at, but we were able to get the throttle down and accelerate out of the turns as we needed and I think that’s where a lot of the time was made up.”

“No, I’m not surprised (on being first pole of season). I’m not a pole go-getter. I count the Kentucky pole, but others may not. I earned it. I was fastest in practice there. Certainly it pays dividends to win it on your own, especially at a road course. I’ve never won a road course pole before so this feels really good. I’ve won races at road courses, but have yet to be the fastest guy for one lap. Today we did that. Joey Logano did it in Sonoma so JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) sweeps the road course poles, which is great. Hopefully we can get a win. We felt like we had a strong run going until late in the going in Sonoma. We got in somebody else’s mess, but hopefully here this weekend we can keep that clean and set our own pace and hopefully try to win.”

“The advantages of starting upfront is certainly you can set the pace in the beginning if nobody wants to pass you, but if there’s guys that are behind you that are pressing you you can let them go. You keep your track position. If you’re running top-three, top-five all day you’ll be pretty good. Last year we had a problem before the start of the race and had to start in the back and then it took us all day to work our way up through the field and we ended up eighth. The highest we got was eighth and that’s where we finished. Even though it’s a long race, it’s not long enough. But, starting upfront like we are if we just keep our track position, set your own pace, keep the brakes at the temperature that you want to keep them at — don’t overheat them and don’t over push them — then you can certainly feel better about how your day will progress. When it comes down to the end of the race when you’ve really got to push and push hard you’ll have something left in the car in order to do that with.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR. QUALIFIED 9TH: “Just was real slick through there (inner loop) for some reason compared to yesterday. The car was solid everywhere else. I felt like it was a decent lap, just the inner loop was real slick and I lost a lot of time there. I’m disappointed in that, but the guys did a great job with our NAPA Toyota. All weekend it’s been fast. I’m excited to race, whenever we get to do it — hopefully tomorrow, but we’ll see.”

BOBBY LABONTE QUALIFIED 11TH, ON IF HIS LAP COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: “Well, I don’t know. I hit turn one — I nailed turn one really good. Through the esses was really pretty close and I got to the inner loop and I saw the dust and dirt there from when I went up there to stop. I went through there and I didn’t run through there like — I already knew it was there so I had to take it a little bit easy I think. The rest of the corners were pretty good. I probably over slowed a little bit in six. All in all a good job by all these guys. We picked up a lot from yesterday. We made one qualifying run in the second practice and we made some changes this morning again on our gear ratio. That helped out. The guys did a good job. We’re not quite where we want to be on it, but hopefully it will be a good lap by the end of the day.”

“Really, it was about like what we had in one qualifying run we made yesterday afternoon so I felt pretty much like that. Obviously, my mind was already distraught when I knew the inner loop was already dirty. I wish they’d have cleaned it up a little bit before I got there. I’m not sure it would’ve helped a lot, but in my mind it would have. I can’t say without looking at video or whatever to say my lap time would’ve been better because of that. Hey, we did a good job. I’m not blaming it on anything like that. Everybody did a good job. We got a lot better performance out of it today and speed out of it today. That’s about as fast as I could go today.”

Logano has finished 16th and 33rd in two starts at the Glen

JOEY LOGANO QUALIFIED 13TH: “Not the lap we were really looking for there for sure. It seemed like I got through the bus stop and the car broke a little bit too loose there and I felt like it gave up a lot of the speed there. We’ll be decent. We’ve still got a good race trim car so we’ll be fine. We’re not way in the back so we’ll be fine. We’ll definitely work our way through it.”

“There was some garbage on the race track — grass or something when someone went through there before. I’m sure it helped me get a little bit loose there. I didn’t feel like I overdrove it. I just got in there and then it busted loose. I’ll have to take a look back at the tape.”

KASEY KAHNE QUALIFIED 18TH, ON HIS LAP: “I felt like we made a decent lap, just not a lot of speed. I didn’t really go that fast, but the lap seemed alright. It just feels like we have a pretty decent car, but I’m not really that quick so I guess we’ve just got to pick it up for tomorrow’s race.”

CASEY MEARS QUALIFIED 26TH: “We had an issue with the brake pedal. It’s pretty standard that after practice we’ll put on a brand new set of rotors and pads for the race, but for some reason it took them a real long time to seed in right. The pedal was traveling almost three quarters of the way down before it was working. I could pump it up and kind of get it there and then if I was off of it for a little bit, I’d go to get to it and it’d almost travel three quarters of the way down. When I went into the Bus Stop it traveled all the way down and the rears locked up getting in and we lost a lot of time through there. The guys have done a real good job. It’s been a lot of hard work this weekend already with the engine, but a decent spot. We’ve got to go the back because we did change the motor, but I was just hoping for better than that.”

DENNY HAMLIN QUALIFIED 42ND ON WHAT HAPPENED ON HIS LAP: “I committed to not giving up. It’s just our car was super, super fast. We wrote down in our notes the last two years that I wasn’t nearly aggressive enough in qualifying. I was more content on hitting my marks and making sure it was a smooth lap and we always qualify about 25th — wasn’t going to do that this time. I was aggressive and obviously we got a little loose and you see what happened, but I’m excited about how fast our car was to be honest with you.”

Do you need to go to a backup car? “No. We’re going to keep this car. It barely touched the wall and really the wheel wasn’t out of alignment at all. It just looked like some minor body stuff and we’ll get them tomorrow.”

Johnson has a 14.9 average finish in nine starts at the Glen

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUALIFIED 4th: “It is hard for me to say that I did (leave anything on the table). I didn’t beat the pace that some guys did yesterday, so I think there might be some speed out there. But the changes that we made really calmed down my car, I knew that was the fasted lap I had made and the most put together I’ve made. Very proud of the effort Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and the guys have put into this thing and hope it gets us close to the front.

“We made some changes going into today’s qualifying session. We found some speed in the car and made it a lot more comfortable to drive. So I’m pleased with the lap; I’m not sure where that will kind of stack up there in the end. But it was a respectable and solid lap for us.”

TONY STEWART QUALIFIED 7TH: “We had a good qualifying run there. We struggled a little bit yesterday in the practices, but we’re still making change on it and we’ll take what we learned here in qualifying and hopefully make a couple more before the race tomorrow and get a little bit better. But I’m really proud of (crew chief) Darian Grubb and all the guys on the Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy. They’ve don’t a great job as always.”

Stewart was roughed up at Sonoma by Brian Vickers (Getty)

YOU GOT TO DRIVE A CAR THROUGH THE BOOT A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO. DID YOU ALMOST DRIVE DOWN THERE TODAY? “No, I knew where I was going. It was fun; it was an honor to drive a McLaren Formula 1 car here and do a seat-swap with Lewis Hamilton. It was a lot of fun; we had a really good time. I enjoyed it. The problem is when we come back here after running that car, I told Darian I’m going to want this thing to stick like glue like that thing did. It’s made for a fun weekend. But it was really cool to do that. It was neat to run the boot. Hopefully one of these days we’ll get to run the Cup Series down there too.”

GOOD QUALIFYING EFFORT: “Yeah, I’m definitely happy with that. It was a good run for us, for sure. We struggled this weekend so hopefully this is a sign that we’re getting things turned around. I’m proud of Darian Grubb and all the guys on this Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy; they really worked hard yesterday. We threw a lot of things at this car. We just can’t seem to find the balance of what it’s wanting. But it was much better in qualifying here, so hopefully we’ll be good tomorrow.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP AROUND THE GLEN: “It was pretty uneventful. I just made sure I didn’t over-drive any of the corners. We’ve been watching qualifying today and watching guys that are forcing themselves into mistakes. So I just tried to not make that mistake and to have just a nice clean solid lap.”

Montoya won last years race at the Glen

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA QUALIFIED 5TH: “We made a lot of changes in the second practice so I wasn’t really sure how the car was going to handle during that qualifying lap. It was a little loose and there was a lot of dirt in some of the corners on the track so I don’t think I pushed it as hard as I should of. Overall, I’m still happy with what the guys have put together and I think the set-up will work for us come race time.”

RYAN NEWMAN QUALIFIED 6TH: “It was a good lap. I had more speed in the car; I felt that afterwards, but I was really proud of the effort. We spent some time in qualifying trim yesterday in first practice and I think that was a definite gain for us as far as just knowing what we had speed-wise. I don’t know if Kyle (Busch) is going to beat us but a top six qualifying effort here is probably our best I think, at least in my memory.”

Not better than I expected. I gave up what I thought could have been a pole run in hindsight; I had more in the car. But I’m happy getting the top-10 run that we did.”

REGAN SMITH QUALIFIED 10th: “We struggled yesterday really bad. These guys have been working hard on this car. I honestly think that most of our struggles are with the universal joint between the pedals and the steering wheel…that would be me. But we are getting there. We are making gains on it. Hopefully that will be a good starting spot for this Furniture Row Chevy. We can work on our race trim from there.”

KEVIN HARVICK QUALIFIED 23RD, ON HIS LAP: “It was just way too conservative. I went through Turn 1 just a little bit hot and it didn’t really hurt me that bad there but I was just watching everything else that everybody was doing and got in the bus stop just way too easy”

DALE EARNHARDT JR.QUALIFIED 25TH: “I just made some mistakes there but the car was driving really good and it was just not enough time to get the heat in the brakes; and wheel-hopped down into (Turn) 1. I need to be able to try to do a better job of getting more heat in the rear brakes.”

JEFF BURTON QUALIFIED 41st: “We’ve been struggling this weekend. We really haven’t been very good. Last night we decided to make a lot of changes, which was the right thing to do. We thought we would qualify 25th the way we were, and then we made a lot of changes and it just didn’t work out for us. But it was the right strategy. What we figured is that we would either get better or we won’t and if we don’t get better, that puts us in a position to play some different strategies that some other people can’t play, and as you know, that means as much here as anything. Its bad to qualify bad, but on the other hand you can make it work here. It just puts you in a different strategy position than everybody else. Disappointing because that certainly not what we wanted but it is what it is and we are going to try and make it work.”

- All quotes from Toyota, Ford, Dodge and Chevy Press Releases

Kurt Busch Quotes Prior to Cup Qualifying Regarding Johnson and Keselowski

NASCAR fans siding with Kurt Busch (Getty)

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO JIMMIE JOHNSON’S COMMENTS TOWARDS YOU YESTERDAY IN THE MEDIA CENTER? “When you said Jimmie was in here, I didn’t know if you meant (Jimmy) Spencer or (Jimmie) Johnson (laughs).

“It’s one of those emotions that boiled over and I felt like the way that we raced each other on the track was what champions need to do. And that is to bring the cars home where they were running on track. Third and fourth is where we were and that’s where we crossed the line. Where we raced each other with a juke-and-jive and rubbin’, that’s racing. I was caught up in it this week following it. I talked to my dad about things and my dad was like, ‘well, that’s rubbin’. That’s racing, son. That’s how it works.’ He just gave me that confidence to know and he’s the one that taught me a lot about racing. Everything that I’ve done in racing is to try and make him proud. He’s like, ‘it’s rubbin’ is racing.’ I’m putting the “R” back in racing and rubbin’ is racing.”

ANY CONCERN ABOUT THE EMOTION BETWEEN YOU AND JIMMIE MIGHT BE A FACTOR IN YOUR CHASE FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP? “It can. I look at year’s past before the Chase points system was implemented, back in the early 90’s when you had Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott running that year. When that group starts to separate themselves on who’s going to run for the championship, just like years past with Rusty Wallace and Dale Sr., it was those two guys. You always seem like you have two or three guys, and then it got down just to two guys who were going to compete for the championship. I’d love to see that atmosphere. If we can perform well enough in the Chase and be in position to race Jimmie Johnson for the championship head-to-head, that would be wonderful. For the way the new points system was structured, it’s not really possible because you can’t just focus on one guy. There’s going to be 12 guys that make this Chase and every one of them has a shot at the championship. I feel like you just can’t focus on one, you’ve got 11 other guys out there.”

JJ showing more emotion than ever (Getty)

WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT JIMMIE WAS THAT ANGRY LAST WEEKEND AFTER THE RACE? WHERE IS THE LINE FOR ‘RUBBIN’ IN RACING? “He was very excited after the race and came over to my car in my pit area where we were parked and was really excited. For me, I think the line was when he swerved at us to break the draft, that’s not a move of a five-time champion. That’s the move of a guy that has had an issue with a guy like me. We’ve raced each other hard and I’ve been spun out and wrecked a few times. We both know that we look at each other very sternly. That’s great competition. That blends into rubbin’ is racing. When you have a history with a guy, you just don’t forget about it. I learned from one of the greats about how to keep a memory of who does you right or who does you wrong and that was Jimmy Spencer. He taught me a lot.”

WHEN YOU FIRST MET YOUR TEAMMATE BRAD KESELOWSKI, WHAT WERE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF HIM? HAS YOUR RESPECT FACTOR CHANGED FOR HIM OVER THE LAST YEAR? “Brad’s done a tremendous job of blending into our system at Penske. He raced for Dale Jr. for a while and was following Jr.’s mold and that’s going to take you places. So is the Penske way of life. He’s done an incredible job of working with those Nationwide jobs in winning that championship.

“Now to have Paul Wolfe on his side on the Cup side, those two are definitely clicking and hitting on all eight cylinders. It’s neat to see his maturity continue to grow. The “Bad Brad” label is not as bad. He’s able to go out there now and compete at a level that’s going to get him a Chase berth. That’s what we want to see. Right now, he’s in great position to get that Chase berth.”

YOU’RE BEING AWFUL NICE ON JIMMIE. WHAT ARE YOUR REACTIONS ON WHAT HE SAID ABOUT YOU? “It’s great. It means that I’m in his head and if I’m in his head, he’s got to worry about us running through this Chase.”

WHAT’S A COMFORTABLE POINTS MARGIN WHEN LOOKING AT MAKING THE CHASE? “I’m glad that we’re in a more comfortable position, being up in the top-four and having an 88-point cushion on the cutoff. You can gain 40-some points in a race and you always think of that as the ‘big cushion’. So right now we have a two-race cushion. I’m glad that we can sit on the outside of the fence and not be one of those guys racing their way in or trying to race for a win. How many guys like David Ragan, Paul Menard, (Denny) Hamlin could fall into that, (Tony) Stewart’s going to be in the mix. You’ve got guys like Dale Jr. who doesn’t have a win and is right on the edge. There’s going to be a half-a-dozen guys going into Richmond with the stress level pegged.”

Kurt Busch impressed with teammate Brad Keslowski (Getty)

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT BRAD’S TOUGHNESS? “You’ve got two tough tracks in a row. Martinsville would be the toughest with someone with a foot problem like that. He’s a tough character. He’s going through the rehab portion of it, doing what he can to go through the pain to try to get it better for when he really needs (it) and that’s when the Chase starts. He just needs to do the right things from the doctors and follow their lead. I’m just here to lend a hand and try to help up relieving his duties on the Nationwide car, so that the No. 2 team is focused. I worked with those Miller guys for years and they want to be in the Chase. They want to be a player towards the championship.”

CAN YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE DYNAMIC INSIDE THE TEAM AND HOW BRAD HAS BEEN ABLE TO ADD TO THE TEAM? WILL THAT CHANGE IF YOU ARE BOTH TITLE CONTENDERS? “I felt like Brad’s intensity for that Nationwide car really kept him back a little bit last year. But that was the focus, to bring that championship home in that Nationwide car and continue to build on the Cup side. So to see him settle in with Paul (Wolfe) and where they are as a team (is great). Their pit crew on the No. 2 car is hands-down faster than the No. 22 this year. Those guys have that desire, youthful exuberance, to go and to try different things and find it. Right now they’re putting it together. My team needs to feed off of that and find the groove the next few weeks to be that championship leader within the Penske team.”

DO YOU THINK THAT YOU AND JIMMIE WOULD HAVE HAD A DIFFERENT DISCUSSION IF YOU HAD MORE TIME AFTER THE RACE? “If we would have run into each other in the motor coach lot afterwards, the adrenaline would have calmed down a bit and there would have been a better discussion. He’s was really amped up. He felt that I did him wrong. The response that we got from different people this week and the race fans, they said it was exciting and that’s what they wanted to see. That’s the intensity and passion that our sport is built off of. This is a bunch of guys running stock cars in the Southeast. This isn’t open-wheel racing where we’re supposed to pass each other clean and be leading by 10 seconds.”

Busch has a runner-up finish and win in last two road races

WITH BRAD LIKELY TO BE IN THE CHASE, HOW DOES THAT DYNAMIC CHANGE WHEN THE TEAM HAS TO SUPPORT TWO CARS IN THE CHASE? “It’s just more hard work from those fabricators in the back. Like last year, we made the Chase, Brad didn’t. If there was a car that was built off of new specs and went to the wind tunnel and showed brand new numbers, obviously it would go to the championship-running team. Now if you have a new car that is built and it spits out these great numbers and you have to have this next week at Charlotte, we need to have two now. Maybe if I was going to run my car at Charlotte, then he would get that car and I would get the new one based off of where we are in points.

“I go back to some of my memories at Roush Racing when had five cars in the Chase. We had cars going everywhere. We had people pulling ropes like it was tug-o-war trying to get the best pieces for them. I remember winning the Loudon race the year that I won the championship and Mark Martin wanted that car for Phoenix. Where do we stand?

“I’m up there in points, but Mark Martin is the veteran and the guy supposed to be running for this championship level. It gets very difficult when you have a lot of cars in the Chase. Luckily at Penske Racing, we have the facility and the people to crank out good new equipment if something comes up.”

DID YOU EVER ANTICIPATE BEING THIS GOOD OF A ROAD RACER? “It’s been a work in progress. I thought all along I could run hard on the road courses. The one race that helped me get to this point in my career was winning at Southwest Tour race at Infineon. It was only my second time on a big-time road course like that. Racing in the Grand Am Series in Rolex cars, just trying to run anything that I can on a road course over the years. I always thought road courses had a feeling of an ‘off-weekend’ where there weren’t points at stake. It was to go have fun and enjoy the atmosphere. That’s the mentality that I’ve taken. It’s led to a few poles and one win. I’ve actually got one win here in the Nationwide car. It’s fun to get out there and test your skills at a road course because we run so many ovals that you still want to be the jack of all trades on road courses. I’ve had fun running on dirt tracks and street stock cars and even my NHRA Pro Stock car.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

Final Watkins Glen Driver Ratings Following All Practice and Qualifying Sessions

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen
Watkins Glen International
Sunday, August 14, 2011 - 10:16 am (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds     Practice 1   Practice 2   Qualified   Sonoma*

 1. Juan Pablo Montoya 7/1    2nd             15th            5th           22nd     
2010 winner finished sixth or better last three seasons; using winning chassis from last year.      
 2. Marcos Ambrose 7/2        13th              1st             3rd            5th
No finish worse than third in three career starts on track; had best practices overall.
 3. Kyle Busch 8/1                   1st              16th            1st           11th
2008 winner with five straight top 10 finishes; using 11th-place chassis from Sonoma.
 4. Kurt Busch 8/1                  17th              2nd           27th           1st
2010 runner-up was his best career finish; using winning Sonoma chassis from June.
 5. Jeff Gordon 8/1                  7th              23rd          17th           2nd
Four-time winner, the last coming in 2001. Holds NASCAR record with nine road course wins
 6. Tony Stewart 7/1               18th             32nd           7th           39th
Five-time winner, the first in 2002 and the last coming in 2009; finished seventh in 2010.
 7. Carl Edwards 18/1             16th              3rd            8th            3rd
Best finish of third in 2009; on streak of five straight top-10s. Using Sonoma chassis this week.
 8. Clint Bowyer 40/1               20th             7th             19th          4th
Best finish of ninth in 2009; had a good practice and is using fourth-place Sonoma chassis.
 9. Jimmie Johnson 10/1         23rd             8th             4th            7th     
One of only five tracks to not win at during Cup career; using car that last ran at Sonoma.
10. Brad Keselowski 75/1        5th               4th            12th          10th  
One of the best in practice and looks to have same equipment as Kurt Busch; new car this week.

* Results from the June 26, 2011 race at Infineon Raceway, the only other road course race of season in the Sprint Cup series.
            
Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com or follow MicahRoberts7 on Twitter.


Sunday's Starting Lineup

Kyle Busch Tops First Practice at the Glen; Montoya and Ambrose Look Strong

Montoya good to go as he'll use winning Glen car again

Kyle Busch, with a lap speed of 125.566 mph, was on top of the speed chart during the first Cup practice session at Watkins Glen.

Second fastest on the speed chart was Juan Pablo Montoya with a lap speed of 125.557 mph, and he was followed by AJ Allmendinger (125.544), Ryan Newman (125.233) and Brad Keselowski (125.185).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Greg Biffle (124.956), Jeff Gordon (124.499), Mark Martin (124.474) , Kevin Harvick (124.448) and Jamie McMurray (124.371).

The driver who ran the best while in race trim -- 7-to-2 race favorite Marcos Ambrose -- didn’t even crack the top-10 while some bettered themselves considerably with qualifying trim. Ambrose, Montoya, Allmendinger, Biffle, Gordon, Keselowski, Kyle and Kurt Busch were all fast early in race trim.

Montoya is using the same chassis he beat around for a 22nd-place finish in June's Sonoma race, a finish that wasn't conducive with how well his car really ran. Montoya battled all day and could have been a top-five car, easy, had he not been beaten back by retaliating drivers. This week's chassis is also the same car that won at Watkins Glen last year.

The teams will have their final practice session this afternoon from 4:10 PM – 5:30 PM (EDT) before returning Saturday morning for their 11:40 AM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session to determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.

Practice 1 Speeds from the Glen

Driver Chassis Selections at Watkins Glen

Edwards had a strong Sonoma race finishing third behind Jeff Gordon

1. Carl Edwards: Won the pole and finished fifth last season; Finish was fifth consecutive top 10; Has yet to lead a lap in six starts; Fifth-best average finish (10.6) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen); Will return in the same car (chassis No. 758) that he finished third with at Infineon Raceway in June.

2. Jimmie Johnson: Coming off first finish (28th) outside the top 20 in last six races; Best finish, and third top five, came in 2007 in third; Fourth-best average finish (10.4) and third is in laps led (59) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen); Will return in the same car (chassis No. 543) that he finished seventh with at Infineon Raceway in June.

3. Kyle Busch: 2008 winner; Has finished ninth or better in last five starts; Second-best average finish (5.8) among all drivers that have competed in all of the last five races; Second in laps led (67) in the four races with the COT; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 305) that he finished 11th with at Infineon Raceway in June.

4. Kurt Busch: 9.8 average finish in five starts with Penske Racing; Coming off three consecutive top 10s; Second-place finish last season is best in 10 starts; Won at Infineon in June; Sixth-best average finish (11.4) and most laps led (100) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen); Will return in the same car (chassis No. 742) that he led 76 laps en route to victory at Infineon Raceway in June.

5. Kevin Harvick: Winner of the 2006 race; 22.0 average finish in the four races with the COT; Sixth-place finish in 2008 was last of five top 10s in 10 starts; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 321) that he finished 11th with at Watkings Glen International last season.

6. Matt Kenseth: 12.8 average finish in the four races with the COT; Last of three top 10s, in 11 starts, came in 2004; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 771) in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

7. Jeff Gordon: Four-time winner; Last win came in 2001; Best finish in last nine starts came in 2007 in ninth after leading 51 laps; Ninth-best average finish (12.6) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen).

8. Ryan Newman: 16.5 average finish in two starts with Stewart-Haas Racing; Scored three top 10s with Penske Racing; 18.0 average finish in the four races with the COT; 10.0 average finish in last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen).

Tony Stewart's day at Sonoma was cut short late by Brian Vickers (Getty)

9. Tony Stewart: Leads all drivers with five wins; Last win came in 2009 after leading 34 laps; Leads all drivers with a 2.6 average finish in the last five races; Seventh-best average finish (11.6) and fifth in laps led (50) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen).

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr: Led 33 laps and finished 22nd in first track start with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008; Finished 39th and 26th in last two starts with HMS; Posted three top 10s with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in eight previous starts.

11. Denny Hamlin: 37th-place finish last year was first outside the top 10 in five starts; Best finish came in 2007 in second; 13.4 average finish.

12. Clint Bowyer: Ninth-place finish in 2009 in only top 10 in five starts; 18.8 average finish; Has yet to lead a lap; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 300) that he last finished fourth with at Infineon Raceway in June.

13. Greg Biffle: Fifth-place finish in 2009 is best in eight starts; Only other top 10 (10th) came in 2007; 15.0 average finish in the four races with the COT; Has yet to lead a lap since 2003.

14. Paul Menard: Coming off best finish in seven starts in 16th; 23.9 average finish; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 361) in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

15. Mark Martin: 21.0 average finish in two starts with Hendrick Motorsports; Posted 16 top 10s in previous 19 starts with Roush Racing; Won three-straight in the 90s; Has yeat to lead more than three laps in one race since 1996.

Kasey Kahne has proven strong on the road courses lately

16. Kasey Kahne: Has yet to finish in the top 10 in seven starts; Finished 17th in last two events; Will make first track start with Team Red Bull; Ninth-best average finish (11.8) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen).

17. AJ Allmendinger: 9.3 average finish in three starts; Finish fourth last season; Third-best average finish (10.0) in the last five road course events (Sonoma and Watkins Glen); Will return in the same car (chassis No. 760) that he finished 13th with at Infineon Raceway in June.

18. Brad Keselowski: Finished 20th in first track start last season; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 741) in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

19. David Ragan: Has yet to finish in the top 20 in four starts; 27.8 average finish; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 762) in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

20. Joey Logano: 24.5 average finish in two starts; Best finish came in 2009 in 16th; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 306) that he won the pole and finished sixth with at Infineon Raceway in June.

- Compiled by Jeff Wackerlin, MotorRacingNetwork.com

Driver Notes & Quotes for Watkins Glen

Kurt Busch looking to sweep the roads

KURT BUSCH ON WATKINS GLEN: “Like I’ve been telling people since last year, this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen has been locked in on our radar screen. To race with (Juan Pablo) Montoya and (Marcos) Ambrose like we did there last year was definitely a confidence-builder. Those two guys come from a different world when it comes to road course racing. We got by Ambrose at the end and were closing in on Montoya.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI ON WATKINS GLEN AND HOW HIS ANKLE IS FEELING: “At the Glen you need to concentrate on where you can brake heavily and where you can put the power down when you need to so that you carry big runs down the straightaway. To me, Watkins Glen is more of a stock car driver’s road course. You can throw your car around a little more than Sonoma, especially with the new runoff areas, because you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in the sand traps anymore. I’m still learning how to be a better road course racer, but it’s starting to click with me.

“I felt much better on Monday after a good night’s rest. A win is good medicine too. It’s just going to take time to let everything heal properly. Good racecars make it very easy on you when you’re hurt or sick and Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) has been building excellent cars this season. If there is a silver lining to the wreck at Road Atlanta, it’s that we weren’t testing our primary car for Watkins Glen. It’s still in one piece and it’s the same car that we finished inside the top-10 with at Sonoma. It will still be uncomfortable in the car this weekend, but I’ll have to man up one more time because we don’t have time to let injuries get in the way of making the Chase.”

KESELOWSKI CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-741 during Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 2 fleet.

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON WATKINS GLEN: “Wins are everything. We want more Ws and I am taking the time to go run the Nationwide Series car for Junior. I have my video game on the side of that race car which is going to be fun and help promote it. Hopefully that leads to a smooth race, a better race for us on the Cup side and we can go to victory. We were just at Road Atlanta testing for two days. So, we’re making that effort to try to be on top. I personally love road course racing and want to be very successful at it. It is just something that is very important to me."

"The Glen, for me, it is the carousel, the long right-hander after the back straightaway. Depending up what driver you speak to, there are a couple of different numbers that they put to it, but, that corner there seems to be the area where I have given up the most speed over the years. I’ve got to get that corner right because it leads on to a pretty important straightaway and sets you up for a passing opportunity once you work your way around to turn one. If you can gain on that big right-hander, the carousel, and then get through (turns) 10 and 11, you are on someone’s bumper for turn one.”

JOHNSON CHASSIS CHOICE: Johnson is bringing the same car that raced at Sonoma in June.

Kevin Harvick won at the Glen in 2006 (Getty)

KEVIN HARVICK ON RACING AT THE GLEN “The cars are a little bit different because you make so many high-speed rights at Watkins Glen compared to the really slow speeds in the corners at Sonoma. Aerodynamically, you want your car to be right. At Watkins Glen you run over a lot of curbs and really fast corners. At Sonoma, they are really slow and kind of technical corners with a lot of throttle control coming off. So they are really just two totally different places. Watkins Glen is definitely one of those places where fuel mileage is going to come into play. You want to put yourself in position but you never know where the cautions are going to fall. You want to pit before everybody else and hope that the caution falls right after that so you can have the right pit strategy. So it’s just one of those things where you have to have a little bit of luck; but fuel mileage will definitely be a factor.”

In 10 starts at Watkins Glen, Harvick has earned one win (2006), two top-five and five top-10 finishes. His average starting position at the road course is 11.7 and his average finishing position is 13.6. Harvick has completed 96.9 percent (874 of 902) of the laps run in the last 10 NSCS races at Watkins Glen. He has also led a total of 29 laps at the 11-turn road course.

HARVICK CHASSIS CHOICE: Kevin Harvick will race chassis No. 321 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. The No. 29 team utilized this car in last season’s event at The Glen where Harvick scored an 11th-place finish.

JEFF GORDON ON WATKINS GLEN: “It’s definitely nice to have that (50-point) gap to 11th. It gives us the opportunity to take more calculated risks for a race win. It’s important to stay in the top 10, though, because bonus points for wins are only awarded to those inside the top 10. Any points advantage you can get will be worth it. Watkins Glen is a much faster and more aggressive track while [Infineon] is a finesse track. Here, you have to attack the track – without making too many mistakes."

"It’s easy to make mistakes here because you have so many turns and braking zones and obstacles with the down shifts – like wheel hopping in turn one. It’s just really, really difficult to get deep into turn one, not overshoot the corner while also not wheel hopping the rear tires. The DuPont Motorsports website is being re-launched on Thursday, and we have some cool things going on with that at Watkins Glen and in the future. I think the fans will really like some of the exclusive content that will be available there.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON WATKINS GLEN: “As I’ve always said I enjoy the challenges of the road courses. Hustling the cars through the different corners is fun and it’s a nice break from our weekly oval races. The cars are bunched in the corners on a road course and you have to avoid spins and getting knocked around. Staying on the course is vital. Watkins Glen may not be as technical of a circuit as Sonoma, but trouble can still happen any time. We don’t take anything for granted. This is auto racing and things can turn against you pretty quickly. You can easily stumble while another driver or two gets on a hot streak."

"Until someone tells me we have mathematically clinched a Chase berth, I won’t feel secure. It’s been a good season so far, but you can’t be satisfied. We’re always trying new things to get us to another level. One thing about our Army team is that we never give up and have come back many times from not being that good to posting a solid finish. It’s the Army way to never quit, and when you represent the best-of-the-best, you keep on battling and don’t look back.”

TONY STEWART ON WATKINS GLEN: “It’s a race that we always look forward to. We’ve had a lot of success there and it’s just fun. It’s like taking Sonoma and just multiplying the speed times three. It’s just a lot faster track. It still has the same elevation changes, but you’re just running a lot quicker. Both Sonoma and Watkins Glen are two places on the schedule that we really enjoy coming to. When you’ve won five races, it gives you that confidence that you know how to win, and know what you have to do to get to victory lane. I know what feel I need when we get here. It’s just a matter of going out and practicing and putting yourself in that position.”

Watkins Glen is not Earnhardt Jr's best track (Getty)

DALE EARNHARDT JR. ON WATKINS GLEN: “I think I can do better at the Glen because it’s got some straightaways on it. It’s a little easier; it’s not quite as technical of a road course. I’ve got more confidence going in there and I’ll try to put up a better result. It’s going to be fun to see Jimmie (Johnson) driving the car (JR Motorsports Chevrolet in Nationwide Series). I guess one of the more mechanical or important parts of the deal, or underlying issues, is that it will give our over-the-wall guys some practice on pitting the car backwards like they do at the road courses. That was what was more interesting to Chad (Knaus) and Steve (Letarte). It will be three teams for us (JR Motorsports) so it will give us an opportunity to get the HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) guys there and get the Sunday guys some more time in race conditions. So, I’m looking forward to it.”

CLINT BOWYER ON WATKINS GLEN: “I’ve always run well at Sonoma where I’m very comfortable. I get to Watkins Glen and I struggle. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at road courses. I’m looking forward to Watkins Glen. I think we can get another top 10 if not, a top-five finish there. It’s a lot faster than Sonoma. The speeds are much higher at The Glen. Sonoma is a very tight, technical track. You have to get settled in and hit your marks. It’s a challenging race track. However, Watkins Glen is wide open, straight off into the corner and running harder than the next guy. You have to keep that momentum up because it’s a very fast race track. There’s never a good place to pass on a road course. There’s not enough room anywhere. Obviously, the best place to pass is getting into turn one though it’s hard. You have to get yourself off the last corner to set yourself up for that pass.”

BOWYER CHASSIS CHOICE: This Week’s Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet at Watkins Glen International … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 300 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet Impala, built in 2010 specifically for road course racing, has seen action three times – the first being a 31st-place finish last season at Infineon Raceway and also last August at Watkins Glen International when Bowyer brought home a 32nd-place effort. Most recently, Bowyer drove this racer to a fourth-place finish earlier this year after starting ninth at Infineon Raceway in June.

PAUL MENARD ON WATKINS GLEN: “Watkins Glen is a totally different race track and atmosphere. It is really tough to pass at Sonoma (Infineon Raceway), and everyone drives in way over their heads. You see a lot of tore-up race cars at Sonoma. You’ll probably see some of that at Watkins Glen, but it’s a lot easier to pass there. It will be more of a straightforward race. I like racing at Watkins Glen better than I do at Sonoma. We’ve had good runs there in the past. But, we’ve had bad runs in the past. I still don’t like either of the road courses, but if I had to pick a favorite of the two, I like Watkins Glen better than Sonoma because it’s more open, and you can pass more. You have more room to race.”

MENARD CHASSIS CHOICE: Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 361 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This No. 27 Chevrolet Impala is a brand new addition to the RCR fleet for the 2011 season and will make its first paces this weekend at Watkins Glen International.

MARK MARTIN ON WATLINS GLEN: “We couldn’t race at two more different types of road courses. Infineon is more of a short track style of road course where Watkins Glen is like the superspeedway of road courses. I love it. I’ve run better here over the course of my career, so I’ve always kind of enjoyed it more. This track has more of an open feel to it and carries a lot more speed than Infineon does. We haven’t had the best runs on road courses here lately, but I’m hoping that turns around this weekend and we can get a good solid finish."

"We have to win (in order to make the Chase). And really, with Brad (Keselowski) getting his second win at Pocono last weekend, we need to win twice. Climbing to 10th in points would be ideal, but we have a big deficit to make up and that’s going to be very difficult to do with this point system. Is it possible? Yes. But it’s not going to be easy. We’ve performed better over the last few weeks and have gotten better finishes, but to get inside the top 10 we’re going to need solid top-10 and even top-five finishes every week.”

Juan Montoya will be using the same car he won with last year (Getty)

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA ON WATKINS GLEN: “Going to Watkins Glen should be exciting. I was pretty happy that we ran much better at Infineon, where we normally struggle. So I think that should be a good place for us. The Target team needs a good finish right now, we’ve been struggling and a win there would definitely go a long way.”

Montoya will be making his fifth career start at Watkins Glen International this weekend. Last season he achieved personal bests in both qualifying and the race when he started third and led 74 of 90 laps en route to his first win at the road course in New York. Including his victory in 2010, Montoya has two top-fives, three top-10s and has completed 342 of 360 laps (95%) at WGI. His average start in the Finger Lakes region is 14.0 and his average finish is 12.5. Montoya has finished on the lead lap in three of his four starts and only has one DNF after being caught up in an incident during the 2007 edition of the race.

MONTOYA CHASSIS SELECTION: The No. 42 Target team will bring Chassis #1014 to Watkins Glen International for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. Montoya used this chassis back at Infineon in June where he was running up front until an on-track incident caused him to finish 22nd. The Target team also ran this car in both road course races last season when Montoya went to Victory Lane for the first time at Watkins Glen International in August, and drove it to a 10th–place finish at Infineon.

JEFF BURTON ON WATKINS GLEN: “The tracks at Watkins Glen and Sonoma are comparable in the same way as Pocono and Indy are comparable. The tracks are different but the same. For people like me who don’t have road course experience, I think there are similarities because the driving style is very similar. In some ways, technically, there is not a lot of information we use from one race to the other but from a driving standpoint it’s the same. I feel good about our road course program. We ran a little better than where we finished. We did a nice job of having a fast car and not letting it get taken away from us. That’s been our history on road course; we run well and finish awful."

"Last year, we ran well and finished decent. That was big for us. That was a step in the right direction as to what we needed to do at the road courses. We feel good about running road courses, but if you look at the records, they’re horrendous. But, if you go back and look at our average running position it’s pretty competitive. The last 10 laps of the races on road courses at almost every race, someone spins me out. After Sonoma this year, I decided that there’s a few of them that the next time I get to them I’m sending them around as quick as I get to them. That’s what continually happens to me and it’s with the same people over and over. So, it’s not happening again.”

BURTON CHASSIS CHOICE: Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 245 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new in 2009 as a No. 07 racer, this machine was put through two short track tests and then shelved before being converted to a road course No. 31 racer. It was put through its first competition at Infineon Raceway in June 2010 where the South Boston, Va., native finished 27th before rebounding at Watkins Glen International a couple of months later when No. 31 team took home a ninth-place finish. Earlier this season, Burton piloted this Caterpillar Chevrolet to a 21st-place result at Infineon Raceway in June.

REGAN SMITH ON WATKINS GLEN: “Watkins Glen is my home track,” said Smith, who grew up in Cato, N.Y. near Syracuse. “I have a lot of family and friends coming to the race and you always want to put on a good performance for them. I am really looking forward to spending some time in central New York this week. I haven’t had a lot of experience on road courses but we are getting better. We had a decent finish in Sonoma back in June (16th) and had a good run going last year at The Glen until we experienced breakage with the track bar mount with five laps remaining. We’re having our best year thus far and would like nothing better to have another strong finish this weekend in front of all the central New York fans.”

Jamie McMurray was strong in practice at Sonoma (Getty)

JAMIE MCMURRAY ON WATKINS GLEN: “I always enjoy racing on the road courses and Watkins Glen is especially fun because it allows you several opportunities to pass. With the long fast straightaways being able to out-brake other cars is crucial. We had a solid run there last year and Montoya came home with a victory for our team, so we hope that we can bring home some solid results for EGR again this year. Watkins Glen is one of the places that if you go there with a mindset that you like the track, you always seem to run better. I actually wish we had a couple of more road course races on the schedule, they are fun to drive!”

This weekend marks McMurray’s ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start at Watkins Glen International. In his eight previous starts at the road course, McMurray has one top-five, two top-10s and has completed 95.4% of the laps run since 2003 (689 of 722). His best finish at Watkins Glen came in 2006 when he took the checked flag in third, and his best start came last season when he rolled off the grid in second. McMurray’s average start in the Finger Lakes region is 17.6, while his average finish is 18.4. He has been running at the finish in seven of his eight career starts at The Glen, with his only DNF coming in the 2009 event due to an engine failure.

McMURRAY CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet team has elected to bring chassis number #1012 to Watkins Glen International this weekend. This chassis was most recently run at Infineon in June when McMurray drove to a 15th-place finish. This car also ran at both road course races in 2010, coming home 15th at Infineon and sixth at Watkins Glen.

MARTIN TRUEX JR. ON WATKINS GLEN: “I really enjoy road-course racing and I really feel good about our chances at Watkins Glen. We’ve had some great runs at The Glen and my boss Michael Waltrip has completed the most laps there. I’m sure he’s going to text us over the weekend while he’s racing in Montana to give us some suggestions. I’m just excited to get up there and put our NAPA Toyota up front. I hope we’ll end up having a shot at winning the deal. The last two years I’ve run really well at Infineon Raceway and that’s been a tough track for me. Of the two road races we go to, Watkins Glen is my favorite.”

TRUEX ON THE CHASE WILD CARD: “We still have a legitimate chance to get that wild card. Just a race or two ago, Brad Keselowski was where we are sitting and now he’s the frontrunner to make it in. Granted, I’d rather be in his shoes right now, but we’re still working towards getting in. It’s really cool going to the track each weekend knowing we have a chance. I like what NASCAR has done by adding the wild car this year because it keeps my sponsor NAPA pumped up and pulling for us. We continue to work really hard to get there and I see Watkins Glen as our chance to get the ball moving in that direction. Plus, we’ve got some good tracks for us coming up like Michigan and Bristol. Hopefully, it will all come together for us.”

MATT KENSETH ON WATKINS GLEN: “Road course racing hasn’t exactly been my favorite kind of racing, but I’ve gotten more experience with it over the years and I think I’ve gotten a lot better. It’s really fun to race at Watkins Glen and I think I prefer the style of racing at the Glen better because it’s faster-paced and really drives more like a speedway at times. The Glen doesn’t have the big hills and elevation changes like we have at Sonoma, which makes it a little easier for me. Watkins Glen is more about momentum and going fast, and I really like those aspects of the track.”

KENSETH CHASSIS CHOICE: Primary: RK-771 (Brand new chassis)

David Ragan is using a new chassis this week (Getty)

DAVID RAGAN ON RACING AT WATKINS GLEN: The Glen has been a tough track for me the past few years, but this year I am going to run the GRAND-AM race in hopes of honing my skills some more. I look forward to the challenge of being a better road racer this weekend in my UPS Ford.”

RAGAN CHASSIS CHOICE: Primary: RK-762 Brand new chassis; Backup: RK-773 Last ran Sonoma – finished 29th

CARL EDWARDS ON WATKINS GLEN: “Watkins Glen is tough. It’s really fun, though. It’s become one of my favorite race tracks. We were fortunate enough to get the pole there last year. It was a huge moment for me. That’s the biggest success I’ve had in the Cup Series at a road course and hopefully we can take what I’ve learned there in years past and apply it and win the race. I’ve been really close. I was running second to Tony (Stewart) one time and I whaled it down in there into the second-to-last corner and I ran off the track and hit the fence and went through the gravel. I’ve been so close to having that breakthrough Cup win on a road course that I’d really love to get it this weekend.”

Edwards will make his seventh Cup start at Watkins Glen this weekend. In his previous six starts, he has accumulated three top-five and five top-10 finishes. He has an average start of 12.3 and finish of 8.2 there.

EDWARDS CHASSIS SELECTION: The Scotts Ortho team will bring chassis RK-758 to Watkins Glen this weekend. Edwards raced this chassis at Sonoma in June where he finished third.

GREG BIFFLE ON WATKINS GLEN: “I like road course racing. It breaks up the season a little. We’ve had a couple of top-10 finish at Watkins Glen and I think it’s reasonable to shoot for a top-10 finish this weekend. There are a few drivers in this series who have a lot of road course experience and if I can just hold my own with them and get out of there with a top-10 or top-five finish, I think that would be a reasonable expectation.”

Logano is using the same car that sat on the pole at Sonoma

JOEY LOGANO ON RACING AT WATKINS GLEN: “This is going to be a busy weekend for sure, but I’m really looking forward to it. It will be my first triple header. I haven’t driven the GT car yet, but I’ve known Boris (driver Said) for a while now so I have no doubt he will get me up to speed pretty quick. As for The Home Depot car, we tested last week at Road Atlanta and Max Papis helped me out again. He’s been a huge help and is going to be around this weekend too. The team has made our road course cars a lot better this year and I know I have a much better understanding of road course racing. Running well at Sonoma where we hadn’t run well in the past was a huge confidence boost for me and the entire team. With the way we’ve been running the past six weeks and my confidence heading into The Glen, I feel like we have a full head of steam and I’m really looking forward to Sunday.”

It’s the second and final road course race of the season for The Home Depot Team and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Joey Logano will make his third career Sprint Cup Series start at Watkins Glen International on Sunday and is looking for his first top-10 finish at the New York track. Logano tested at Road Atlanta last week with the team along with driver Max Papis in preparation for this weekend, the same thing they did prior to the race at Infineon Raceway in June. Logano captured the pole at Infineon and earned his first top-10 finish at the track.

LOGANO CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli and the No. 20 Home Depot Team are taking chassis #306 to Watkins Glen this weekend. Logano drove this chassis for the first time at Infineon Raceway in June. He started from the pole and earned his first top 10 at a road course in his three-year Sprint Cup career. The back-up chassis is #234 that Logano drove at Watkins Glen and Sonoma last season.

DAVID REUTIMANN ON TESTING AT WATKINS GLEN: “We went up to Watkins Glen and ran the driving school cars to work on racing lines and braking areas and things like that. Michael (McDowell) is a great guy with a ton of patience thankfully and he has helped me out tremendously – he has definitely helped out program, but we’ve still got some ground to cover, but it’s been a good fit so far and we are getting better each time we visit a road course. I think we’ve been able to get as many of the big things as we can as far as some of the road course fundamentals, now we are in a place where we aren’t cutting off seconds per lap, but maybe a tenth here or a tenth there. Michael has really been able to help my technique out, because before I met him I didn’t really have any technique at all. Mike really works hard and he’s definitely made it better. He gives a lot of good information and makes you focus and work on a lot of different areas that you need help in. He is a good teacher and it’s been helpful.”

DAVID GILLILAND ON WATKINS GLEN: “We’re definitely hoping to run as well as we did in Sonoma. That was a great day for our team. We’re bringing the same car back and we feel like we learned a lot at Sonoma that really helped our road-course program. Watkins Glen just has some higher-speed corners that are a little different that we’re working on.

“For me personally, Watkins Glen hasn’t been as good as Sonoma, but Peter’s (crew chief Peter Sospenzo) had a lot of success there, so together I think we’re strong as a team. I’m going to lean on his experience a little and just muscle up behind the wheel. I feel like together we should have a better weekend than in the past."

RON FELLOWS ON CUP RACING AT WATKINS GLEN THIS WEEK: “I am excited to pick up where we left off last year. It is always great to be a part of the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen. We had a decent qualifying run last year at the Glen, but then didn’t finish the race after we were running inside the top-15. Although it is a year later, we are just looking to build on that.”

One of my favorite StockcarToons of the season by Mike Smith (SceneDaily)

Kyle Busch Watkins Glen Preview

Kyle Busch is using same 11th-place car from Sonoma in June (Getty)

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 9, 2011) – The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ two annual visits to road courses may look similar to some casual fans, but to Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), there’s a stark contrast from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, site of Sunday’s Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

So much so that Busch describes how different the two road course layouts are by comparing Infineon to Martinsville, the smallest Sprint Cup oval, while comparing Watkins Glen to Talladega, the longest oval on the circuit.

Even though both road circuits are very much different, one thing they do have in common for Busch is that the talented 26-year-old always feels as if he has a shot to win whenever he visits Infineon each June, and Watkins Glen each August.

For a racer who grew up on the short track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway known as the “Bullring,” Busch has always had a soft spot for the oval tracks, and short tracks in particular. But, even though he grew up on the short-track scene, he has taken to road-course racing quite well, especially since joining JGR at the beginning of 2008. That year, he dominated at the road courses, leading 130 of the total 202 laps contested en route to victories at both Infineon and Watkins Glen.

As if that weren’t enough, Busch started things off in April of that year by capturing his first road-course victory of any kind when he competed with the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he led twice for a total of 22 laps on his way to victory lane.

So while Busch’s success on the road courses in recent years reflects his newfound enjoyment of mixing right turns with lefts, he stands firm in his belief that two road-course races per year are quite a different experience for him and his M&M’s team. As for this weekend at The Glen, Busch hopes a healthy dose of right turns helps him navigate his way right to victory lane in a repeat performance of his 2008 win there. The precious bonus points – two for each win scored during the 26-race “regular season” – would certainly come in handy with the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup starting just five races after the checkered flag flies on Sunday.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES

What is the difference for drivers at Watkins Glen compared to Sonoma?

“Sonoma is kind of like Martinsville and Watkins Glen is kind of like Talladega. That’s how different they are. Watkins Glen seems like it’s an easier road course for these cars and for us to be on. They’re not as agile as other sports cars are. We’re 3,400-pound racecars where other sports cars are maybe 2,500 or 2,800 pounds. You can throw them around a lot easier. Their brakes are a lot better and they stop a lot better. With as big and heavy of tanks as these (Sprint Cup cars have), we seem to have a problem, already, not running into each other, let alone being on a tight road course like Sonoma certainly adds a challenge.”

Can you afford to gamble on fuel mileage at Watkins Glen?

“We certainly can. We’re in the predicament that we can take some pretty good gambles like we did at Indy recently. We were going to finish about 30th if we didn’t do what we did there and come in and get fuel and try to stretch it the three laps we were short. In doing that, it gave us a good finish and it gave us a top-10 finish, so that was good. Watkins Glen, we can probably do the same thing if we need to with our M&M’s Camry.”

What does it take to be successful at Watkins Glen?

“At Watkins Glen, the biggest thing is pit strategy. Obviously, you’ve got to pick and choose when you’re going to pit and stick to your plan. Whether or not we can still do it on two stops, I’m unsure because Sonoma turned into a three-stop race for us all because the new fuel mileage is a little bit off than what we were here last year with the old fuel. Watkins Glen though, you definitely have got to be good at being able to carry speed, obviously, through the esses and down the long backstretch. That seems to be the key part to the racetrack.”

Will we see a lot of drivers getting into each other at Watkins Glen like we did at Sonoma?

“I think you will. Yeah, you’ll see a little bit of it, especially on restarts and stuff like that. Watkins Glen is a place where we get a little bit more spread out throughout the run. Certainly, there are some areas where some guys can make some moves. Like, getting into turn one, you can out-brake somebody really good. Getting into the bus stop, you can out-brake somebody pretty good there, too. It’s like Marcos (Ambrose) did to me in 2009, I think it was in the Nationwide Series. If you out-brake somebody getting in there and you both are already on so much edge, one of you is going to have to give. If you’re that guy on the inside, you’re going to run into the guy on your left and you’re going to put him off into the island, there, in the grass. You’ve got to be conscious of that. That’s why I got out of the way and stopped when I had my problem there.”

Do you prefer Watkins Glen over Infineon Raceway?

“No, not really. I like both road courses. They’re both fun. For me, road racing is enjoyable. You get a chance to turn right and turn left and do something different than what you typically do. For me, I’m excited about it. Hopefully, we have a good shot at running well there again this year with our M&M’s Camry. We won three years ago and finished fourth and eighth there the last couple of years, so we’ve been decent and, hopefully this time around, we’ll do the same.”

When did you become better at road-course racing?

“I think I really hit it probably in ’07, when I was still at Hendrick. I think I finished 10th out at Sonoma, or something. We had an OK day. But then, at Watkins Glen, I think I was running fifth or fourth, just passed Jeff Gordon, and that’s when my track bar broke and I went six laps down fixing that, got all the ‘Lucky Dogs’ to get back on the lead lap, and finished 12th. But we were really fast and we were good. I took that experience from ’07 into ’08 with the M&M’s car and Joe Gibbs Racing and we swept both races and were pretty good at it. I feel like I’m a relatively good road-course racer. It took me a little bit to get used to it, to figure out how hard to charge the corners or how hard not to charge the corners, and different braking techniques.”

Chassis Selection:
This chassis will make its second-ever start in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen(N.Y.) International. No. 305 made its first start during the first road-course event of 2011 in the June Toyota Save/Mart 350k at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Busch started 19th and brought home solid 11th-place finish.

Jeff Gordon Hoping For Old Road Course Magic at Watkins Glen

Jeff Gordon has nine road course win in his career, including 4 at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 9, 2011) – Including this Sunday’s Heluva Good!Sour Cream Dips at the Glen, only five races remain before the 12-driver “Chase for theNASCAR Sprint Cup” field is set. For Jeff Gordon at this point of the season, who is“following” him may be more critical than who is ahead.

Halfway to the “Chase” after race No. 13 at Kansas Speedway in June, Gordonwas 13th in the point standings and 121 markers out of the lead. With a win, two runner-up finishes and seven finishes of 11th or better in the eight races since, the 84-time winner has moved up to seventh and is now 52 points from the top spot. Maybe more importantly, though, is the fact Gordon is now 50 points ahead of 11th-place – a“cushion” of more than one race – in his attempt to secure one of the coveted “Chase”spots.

“It’s definitely nice to have that gap to 11th,” said Gordon, who celebrated son Leo’s first birthday Tuesday. “It gives us the opportunity to take more calculated risks for a race win.

“It’s important to stay in the top 10, though, because bonus points for wins are only awarded to those inside the top 10. Any points advantage you can get will be worth it.”

Earlier this year, Gordon finished second at Infineon Raceway – the only other road course on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. But the tracks are polar opposites according to the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

“Watkins Glen is a much faster and more aggressive track while [Infineon] is a finesse track,” said Gordon, whose nine career road course victories rank first all-time. “Here, you have to attack the track – without making too many mistakes.

“It’s easy to make mistakes here because you have so many turns and braking zones and obstacles with the down shifts – like wheel hopping in turn one. It’s just really, really difficult to get deep into turn one, not overshoot the corner while also not wheel hopping the rear tires.”

In 18 starts at Watkins Glen, Gordon has four wins, two poles, six top-fives, nine top-10’s and is the all-time lap leader with 227. During the annual visit to the New York track, the plan is to make an impression on and off the track with the DuPont Chevrolet.

“The DuPont Motorsports website is being re-launched on Thursday, and we have some cool things going on with that at Watkins Glen and in the future,” said Gordon, who has two wins in 2011 (Phoenix and Pocono). “I think the fans will really like some of the exclusive content that will be available there.”

While fans will now have access to more content, Gordon is looking for more followers – like 42 of them – come Sunday.

- Performance PR Plus, Press Release