Watkins Glen Nascar 2009
For the second week in a row, the elements had the final word on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen was called off at 4 p.m. ET after a series of storms moved over Watkins Glen International, just after drivers had entered their cars for the scheduled 2:18 p.m. start.
Crewmembers for Tony Stewart's No. 14 team head for shelter as they walk on a rainy pit road at Watkins Glen. (By David Duprey, AP)
LINEUP: Heluva Good! at the Glen
DRIVER DUEL: Bitterness for R. Gordon, Logano
The 90-lap event, the second road-course event of the season, was rescheduled for Monday at noon ET, with coverage on ESPN.
Prerace ceremonies were nearly complete when storm clouds began to roll in, just before the command to start engines. Drivers were immediately ordered out and cars were covered up for the delay, caused by a large cell moving southeast from Canada.
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Showers let up enough for trucks to begin trying to drying the 2.45-mile road course an hour later before another weather system followed, leading to the second consecutive Monday race.
Jimmie Johnson, winless in 15 road-course starts, will start his No. 48 Chevrolet on the pole with Kurt Busch’s No. 2 Dodge on the outside of the front row. Defending race winner Kyle Busch will start eighth.
Last week’s Pennsylvania 500, won by Denny Hamlin at Pocono Raceway, was also postponed by rain. With just five races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, another delay wasn’t welcome.
“That’s got to be tough,” Canadian road racer Ron Fellows said. “They’ve spent a lot of time at the racetrack watching it rain. You might get a bit stir-crazy.”
NASCAR’s first major points race in the rain came just over a year ago at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in a Nationwide Series race, and that made a lasting impression on four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like in a Cup race,” Gordon said. “I thoroughly enjoyed watching it rain up there. That was highly entertaining, but I was very glad I wasn’t inside the car.”
Said Kevin Harvick: “It was pretty fun to watch. I don’t know how much fun it would be to drive. The problem is you can’t see. I practiced the truck in the rain here. The cars aren’t really that bad to drive because you have to slow down so much. The other thing is the rooster tail that shoots out the back of the car. I mean, I’d try it.”
So, too, would Robby Gordon.
“It (delaying a day) makes it really hard on the race teams because Monday is normally the guys’ day off,” he said. “Now, it’s two weeks in a row. It may be a day off today because we didn’t race, but they’re not home with their families. And the other side is for the fans. They stand around for two days, and a lot of them have to go back to work on Monday. It’s kind of a bummer.
“… I wish we’d just suck it up and run on rain tires. As far as I’m concerned, I’d run with them on the ovals, too.”
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said using rain tires wasn’t really an option.
“As high as the stakes are, we feel it’s in the best interests of everybody if we race on dry tracks,” he said.
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