Pocono, as a 'road course?' No way, says Marcos Ambrose. But Sonoma and the Glen are in everyone's headlights

  Jeff Burton, in a bad crash last summer, likes the safety improvements at Watkins Glen (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   POCONO, Pa.
   Sonoma looms, and that technical road course has baffled some stock car racers for years...
   -- Which is why Jimmie Johnson – one of the still-winless – is shuttling between here and Watkins Glen, where he is racing this weekend's Grand Am sports car race, to get road course seat time;
   -- Which is why David Ragan and rookie teammate Kevin Conway will test the 10-turn Sonoma course itself Tuesday, in Late-model stock cars;
   -- Which is why Virginia International Raceway, in Danville, Va., has been so heavily trafficked by NASCAR teams the past few weeks;
   -- And which is why the Goodyear tire test this past week at the Glen (for the August 8th Cup race) has been so eagerly analyzed.
   Last summer at the Glen Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton both got caught up in a nasty crash, and that particular part of the course drew criticism, as did the gravel runoff pits that have led to lengthy cautions. So new Glen boss Michael Printup has spent a lot of money fixing things up.
   The reviews have been positive.
   "I thought it was really cool, they did a really nice job," Jeff Burton says. 
    "The only changes that will really make a difference in the racing is off that long right-hander -- everyone calls it something different -- but off that turn the exit has been changed quite a bit. 
    "...because we had those two big wrecks there last year, one of which I was in.
   "So I was glad to see them change that."
   

   

   The Busch bros, Kurt and Kyle. Headliners at Charlotte and Pocono...but what can they do on the Sonoma and Watkins Glen road courses? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   

   
Printup paved several runoff zones and installed some soft-walls. One of the problems he faced was that particular part of the track is where the NASCAR 'short-course' meets the traditional downhill-uphill 'boot.'
    "They spent a lot of money, spent a ton of money, and a ton of effort -- trying to make the racing safer, and they should be applauded for that," Burton says. 
    "That doesn't put a single person in the grandstand. They don't get a dime back for that investment. All those changes are made for one reason -- safety."
   The changes in the runoff areas, Burton says, "will have an impact on the race, because that's fewer cautions. 
    "Every race you're having to pull people out of that thing (the old gravel pits). This year you're not going to have that."
    That, in turn, will impact the race in another aspect, Burton says, "because of fuel mileage" with fewer yellows:  "At the Glen (and Sonoma too) everybody tries to guess how many caution laps there are going to be, and then work the race backwards. 
    "People try to get on pit road early (short-pitting, before the fuel window, in order to gain track position). So that's going to have a pretty major impact on the way the race is run, I think."
    Gordon agrees: "It was a fantastic move to add that paved run-off. It's going to save a lot on cautions.
   "You're not going to have these long cautions we've had there in the past.
   "Plus they've added some new rumble strips up off the corners.  Surprisingly, you could run on more than I thought you were going to be able to. 
    "It adds an interesting aspect."
    And Gordon learned something else too: that Aussie Marcos Ambrose is still one fast dude on a road course....which could put him back in the spotlight when the tour hits Sonoma in a couple of weeks.
   Gordon learned that when he and Ambrose swapped cars at the Glen for a few laps: "When Marcos Ambrose goes really fast through the road courses, it's not his race car, he's just really fast. 
    "He got in my car and went really fast....I got in his car and went slow."
    So maybe Gordon picked up a few ideas for his own stuff for Sonoma, where he once dominated. "Our Chevys haven't been as good as we felt like they needed to be," at road courses, Gordon says.
    Ambrose himself? He hasn't done much to speak of this season, after such a hot 2009.
   And here? "This is a really tough place to get around," Ambrose says.
    "It's one of the fastest tracks you go to.
    "But the surface is really old....it's bumpy...there are a lot of cracks on the surface. So you never know what you're going to get.
    "No, it doesn't drive like a road course.  I can debunk that myth straight-up.  It's a hard, hard race track, and you've got to have a lot of confidence, you've got to be brave."
    Fortunately for drivers new safety barriers will be added for next season, a new 'soft-wall' on the inside of the track from turn one all the way to turn three.

   
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   Marcos Ambrose (L), with Martin Truex Jr. Ambrose is one of the sport's fastest road racers....but he's been quiet so far this spring...amid rumors Ford might be ready to make a run at him and bring him back to that camp (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)