Juan Pablo Montoya is back for a one off… His comments are below along with other drivers
By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net
NASCAR’s desire to test drivers with a wide variety of tracks in its ten race playoffs got its desired effect in Atlanta for round one as top seeds tumbled down the standings. Kyle Larson’s day ended when he crashed early in the race, taking out Chase Briscoe. Tyler Reddick slipped to fourth from second and Denny Hamlin is now 11th. What does it mean? A true road course at Watkins Glen awaits drivers in round true of the playoffs and the final shuffle of round one of the playoffs at Briston under the lights in final race of round one will eliminate four drivers with only Atlanta race winner Joey Logano assured to move on. So what are they saying at Watkins Glen? Here goes.
Last weeks winner Joey Logano
Joey Logano is assured of moving on to round two after winning in Atlanta last weekend.
LAST WEEK SHOOK UP THE POINTS AND THEN YOU COME TO A ROAD COURSE WHERE THAT’S TYPICALLY HOW THINGS ARE TOO. WHAT DO YOU PROJECT TO YOURSELF THIS RACE IS GONNA BE LIKE FOR PEOPLE?
Logano: “It’s interesting these days, the road courses don’t shuffle up the running order a whole bunch compared to what you see every other track. It seems like it’s the same teams that run good almost everywhere these days, with the exception of a couple, right? There might be two or three that are a little bit different than others, but for the most part, it seems like if you run 10th to 15th, you run 10th to 15th here too. It’s kind of weird how, at least at Watkins Glen, it seems like that. But I think the speed and downforce still matters. If your bodies aren’t great, then they’re not going to be great here either. And you’re going so fast. Any time the points are so close, you go into the first race of any round, things are going to shuffle up because the points are so close. You have a couple guys with issues like they did last week in Atlanta, it’s going to change stuff up quickly. We’ll be saying the same thing when we leave Watkins Glen, like, wow, man, there’s going to be a crazy storyline. And the points battle going into Bristol will definitely be tight. No matter what, it’s going to be tight. There’s just not enough races to create distance.
Juan Pablo Montoya’s First Race in NASCAR since 2014
Last time I spoke to JPM was at the Detroit Grand Prix in 2019. He fills us in on his chances at Watkins Glen.
How will you be racing the Playoff guys?
“I will be nice and respectful of everyone that is nice and respectful for me (laughter). I don’t want to get in a pissing contest with anyone. I want to run well. If I get to you, and I’m quicker than you – I’m going to try to pass you. If you get to me, and you are quicker than me, there is reason – the race is long enough. Like always, you wait for the adjustment and make the car better – if you make someone miserable at the start of the race, they are going to return the favor later. I know I’m doing one-off. I will be respectful of everyone that is respectful of me. It is not that hard.”
William Byron talks tire falloff at Watkins Glen
You haven’t been on track yet, but how have you and your team been preparing for this weekend, knowing that you have a new tire that could have three seconds of falloff per lap? Are you expecting some chaos from that? Are you expecting what we saw at Bristol in the spring, or more like a Richmond situation?
“Yeah, I think the tire is going to definitely falloff more, but we’re interested to see if that curb from the test flattens out a little bit because typically it does when you get rubber on the race track.. more cars get the right tire pressures, all those things. So yeah, I think there will still be a lot of falloff and it’ll just be interesting to see if that effects qualifying, if we’re not able to re-run. Or if in the race, like I said, maybe flip the stages because you need tires. It could shakeup the way that you strategize the race, for sure, because typically you’re just trying to strategize based on fuel.”
Michael McDowell is honest about qualifying at Watkins Glen
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 10th)
“Honestly qualifying wasn’t that great for us. We had higher expectations than that but our Benebone Ford Mustang was really fast in race trim and really good on the long run. I think some of the setup approach that we brought here knowing there was going to be a bit of fall-off probably hurt our fire-off speed a bit but I feel great about the car we have for tomorrow. Track position will be important, but maybe with fall-off it will be a little easier to pass. I feel good about what we have and I was glad we made it to the second round but we wanted to be fighting for the pole and that last run there we were not. It was a good effort though and I feel good about tomorrow.”
Ross Chastain wins the pole
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Camaro ZL1 – Pole Win
What are the emotions you’re feeling right now?
Chastain: “So many. So much work has gone into this. Turning right seems simple, but it’s been something that’s been such a challenge for me. I’ve gone to Skip Barber’s Driving School to learn how to turn right. I’ve leaned on Josh Wise and Scott Speed so much. Chevrolet has taken us out to Spring Mountain and has done schooling with Ron Fellows and the instructors there. It wasn’t any one thing, it was just so many years of trying to learn how to do this.