“It’s smoother, but to me it’s the same Watkins Glen. The transitions and things are a little smoother but that’s just new pavement compared to old pavement. The curbing is different on some of the corners. On the new curbing, it’s understanding those curbs and exactly how much you can get on them and how much you can’t. Just driving around the track it doesn’t feel much different than it has in the past.”
Kasey Kahne
“We were the car that was picked to go do the Watkins Glen tire test. The repave is a change in some aspects, but it’s also the same Watkins Glen. It still has a lot of grip - the place has not lost that character. I’m just going to try to focus on the fundamentals of road course racing and do that correctly. The rest should take care of itself. We have SunEnergy1 on the car again this weekend too, so I’m looking forward to having those guys back as well. Kenny (Habul, owner of SunEnergy1) will be in the same colors on the XFINITY side so that will be neat.”
Chase Elliott
“Watkins Glen is a more flowy track than Sonoma for us. I think it probably compliments our cars a bit better, but it’s much more difficult on the brakes. The brake systems have to deal with a lot more. It really sort of becomes the weakest link. At Sonoma you can’t hurt the brakes, you can go 100 percent every lap, every corner. But I believe brakes will kind of be the topic of discussion while we are there. We are hoping for a good race for the Lowe’s Chevy.”
Jimmie Johnson
“A big focus will be to make sure we don’t have any brake failures. I have some concerns with the aero package having less downforce, less drag and on a new surface like Watkins Glen, you are going to be driving in the corners much deeper and using a lot more brakes. We have already seen brake temps be an issue at some of the tracks this year.”
Jeff Gordon