The Brickyard is a challenge to NASCAR drivers
By: Jim Williams
Examiner Sports Columnist
July 26, 2009
Sunday, the Sprint Cup Series comes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 and each year this is one of the most anticipated races of the season because -- after Daytona -- everyone wants to get a win at Indy.
But Indy offers unique challenges versus other tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit and this week I had a chance to speak with the ESPN broadcast team of Dr. Jerry Punch and analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree.
What are the biggest challenges at the Brickyard?
Jarrett » "Flat tracks present many problems and Indy is like no other place we race all season. The lack of banking does affect the drafting -- in this case, the lack of drafting. You can do some drafting on the front and back straightaways but this is a real challenge. That really makes you have to monitor your fuel and watch your tires."
Dr. Punch had a different take.
Punch » "I've interviewed drivers who walk out of Gasoline Alley there at the Brickyard 400 for the first time and to them, the massive crowd is exhilarating but also intimidating. It seems like each one of them says almost the same thing. You look down this long straightaway coming off of turn four, and there's no other track in NASCAR where you look out your windshield and there's a tidal wave of people on your right, and a tidal wave of people on your left in those paddock grandstands. And it's so distracting and intimidating -- you've got to somehow focus to get down the straightaway and turn left. It's very difficult not to get distracted by the very large crowd."
What are the chances of Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch not making The Chase?
Petree » "Nobody ever would have thought that, that he would go in there and not make it. He's struggled when he did get in The Chase the past couple of years and that's not a surprise. But the fact is he's actually got a chance of not making it, and I think there's trouble brewing over there. This is a gut wrenching time for them as a team. You're going to see what kind of character they have these next seven races to get into The Chase. I think it's going to be very iffy that he gets in the Chase this year because of the way that car has performed."
ESPN will have both the Nationwide and the Sprint Cup Series the rest of the season with SPEED as the home of the truck races as well as Nationwide and Sprint Cup practice and qualifying.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
