iNSIDE SCOOP: Right-and-Left Roundy-Round

It’s road-course time again in NASCAR!

I’ll wait until the groans subside to continue.

Ready? OK…it’s road-course time again in NASCAR! Many of you out there are already planning to be rearranging the sock drawer while washing your hair out of the country, but you shouldn’t be. It’s good racing.

As an example, a year ago, the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen produced the wildest, most talked-about finish in quite some time. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose battled all the way around the venerable course, through oil slicks, dirt, grass and whatever else was available to the checkered flag.

Ambrose won by a car length over Keselowski, with Busch third, the Australian driver’s second straight victory on the historic course. 

The Glen is as steeped in history as Daytona and almost as much as Indianapolis. Formula One racers gave the place its first great boost, with the likes of Jackie Stewart winning there. It’s old; almost as old as Indy and 30-plus years older than Daytona. It’s even older than Martinsville and Darlington.

As an added bonus, many of the team crewmen come from upstate New York, where they campaigned Tour-type modifieds for the most part. Some were dirt-track racers. The Bodine family is from Chemung, close to the Finger Lakes region.

So is the Corning family, whose glass works comprised the wealth of the region for a long time. Now it’s wineries and such, but still…it’s a grand old place to go race.

The track is a modified oval, only in reverse. It’s counter-clockwise, for one thing, which means most of the turns are right-handers. Downhill braking is key there, as Turn 1 is a 90-degree righty leading to a series of esses up the hill to the backstretch. Good passing zones in Turn 1 and again in Turn 5, also known as the Bus Stop.

That’s where all the stuff happens, too, those two corners. Turn 1 is the best area, because it’s wide open leading to the corner. Cars get four-wide or more headed in, but emerge no more than two-wide. Some go spinning off into the barriers, too.

NASCAR doesn’t use The Boot, which open-wheel and sports-car drivers do. It’s fascinating, that area, with a left-right combo that has caught out more than one driver. 

It’s old-school racing for new-school cars, and it’s a blast.

Max Papis, who will sub for five-time Glen winner Tony Stewart this weekend, is good there, as are Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon. Kyle Busch is pretty good there too.

Ron Fellows has finished second twice at The Glen, leader of the Ringers that invade every road-course stop in the series. One to keep an eye on among that group is Australian Owen Kelly, who like Ambrose came from Australian V8 Supercars.

Now that’s a series I’d love to see at Watkins Glen. Any series that can nearly reduce Darrell Waltrip to tears and screaming hissy fits is good enough for me.

Enjoy, and for those who don’t appreciate the finer points of road courses, it’s 10 months to go until Sonoma.