If you look at Tony Stewart’s record at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International, you would think he loves racing on NASCAR’s two road courses.
Then you listen to him talk about Sunday’s race at Infineon and, well, maybe not.
Jeff Gordon should
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Jimmie Johnson would like nothing more right now than to get his first road-course victory on Sunday, but there are plenty of obstacles in his way – real obstacles. The moving kind.
NASCAR’s top stars and best road-course drivers are a bit leery of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 because it is expected to be one of the most physical races on the circuit, almost as rough as a short-track race with all the bumping and banging, pushing and shoving.
And then there’s the drivers who don’t know what they are doing, putting themselves in precarious positions and running off course – or into each other.
Asked Friday which of the 11 turns he is worried most about, Stewart, a two-time winner here, said: “Everywhere. Because as crazy as these guys will be driving on Sunday, you have to be good everywhere.
“If you are weak at some point, somebody is probably going to go in there and probably door-slam you or something. I was watching tapes this last week, if you get back, fourth on back, it is a no-holds-barred wrestling match.”
Johnson, a California native who has 50 Sprint Cup victories but has never won on a road course, wants desperately to win here Sunday, but knows he also must be careful. He is not willing to take any unnecessary risks, especially having fallen to sixth in the standings.
He knows, though, that he could get into trouble not of his own doing.
“The first 15 or NFL Chicago Bears 0 laps, there is a little bit of give-and-take. And then after a while, something happens and one guy screws over another guy and the energy changes,” he said. “And then everybody you come in contact with is more irritated, and by the time you get to the end of the race, it is just a cutthroat event.
“At every braking zone, guys are blocking. If someone is blocked, the guy that’s being blocked goes to the turn and says, ‘To hell with you, I can just lean on you and spin you out and all the guys outside of you,’ and off they go. So there’s an energy during the race that kicks in and I want to avoid that.
“I don’t want to get caught up in that NFL Cincinnati Bengals ecause you get red-faced and focused just on these little battles you see in front of you and around you and before you know it, you’re sitting in the dirt and tire barriers with fenders torn off the car and something’s gone wrong.”
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