Whats the difference between the road course at Watkins Glen and the road course at Infineon Raceway?
Watkins Glen is nearly a half-mile longer (2.45 miles vs. 1.99), requiring teams to run 20 fewer laps than the June 25 event won by Jeff Gordon at Infineon Raceway. It has longer straightaways, which leads to considerably higher speeds. Gordon holds the qualifying records at both tracks, averaging 124.58 mph at Watkins Glen compared with 94.325 at Infineon. The nature of the track puts additional emphasis on generating horsepower and on braking at The Glen, which emphasizes right-hand turns (seven of them) but offers less-severe banking in the corners. Drivers talk about maintaining momentum through the turns at Watkins Glen and more about making it through the corners at Infineon. “You can’t run the exact same setup as you do at Sonoma,” says Gordon, who led 44 of the 110 laps at Infineon this year. “This is a very fast road course (with) some big, sweeping, fast right-handers, so you really have to have your car working well. Brakes are important, especially getting into the inner lo
