Watkins Glen International will be under the nation’s spotlight this Sunday as the Cup Series field turns laps around its 2.54-mile road course. It is the first time that the premier tier of NASCAR has scheduled a playoff race at the Glen and track officials are fully geared up to make it an outstanding memory. With that in hindsight, let’s take a look at what makes this venue a distinct one.
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The first time NASCAR entered the gates of Watkins Glen was in 1957. The track has undergone significant changes since then and today stands proud as an international circuit on 1,100 acres of land. The key point in which it differs from other road courses is speed facilitation. The NextGen car moves at a pace of up to 190 miles per hour on the track’s backstretch.
In no other course can such speeds be reached. Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch said about this recently, “It feels like a superspeedway because you’re going so fast there … Your minimum speed drops a little bit into Turn 1, Turn 11 and through the Bus Stop (Inner Loop). It’s just a really cool place with good braking zones to make some passes. It’s just a fun course.”
The defending champion Ryan Blaney is a fan of high-speed racing on road courses as well. He told News10NBC, “Watkins kind of has this notoriety about it of just being a super fast road course. It’s one of the higher-speed ones. We have a lot of grip. A lot of commitment that you have to have.” Making this unique attribute more complicated this weekend is a pair of unknowns.
The unknowns that will play a factor in Watkins Glen
Goodyear has developed a new tire compound with a high fall-off rate that will be tested in the upcoming race. No driver or team has a clear idea about what to expect from it and will do so only after the practice and qualifying sessions. Even then, it could be too little to draft strategies with.
To improve safety, the track has undergone a few reconfigurations. This move was a result of the data that was pulled from the mouthpiece sensors of drivers after the race in 2023. Rumble strips have been recessed in the ground off Turn 1 to keep cars from going off the track.
The curbs in the inner loop have also been removed to prevent heavy impact on driver skulls. Essentially, drivers will be facing a lot of newness when they take their cars on the track. This makes it extremely difficult to assess who could have an edge over the other and come out on top.
