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Sprint Cup Preview: Watkins Glen

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 8, 2008

RACE NO. 22:

WATKINS GLEN

Tony Stewart got his first Cup-level victory 25 races into his rookie season in 1999. Since then, he has never gone this far into a season without a victory. He is still winless this year, and Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen could represent his best chance to get a victory this season. Stewart has a career-high four victories on the Watkins Glen International road course, and in the last four years there he has three wins and a second. Tribune motor sports writer Tony Fabrizio takes a look at what else is topical this weekend:

Why did Hall of Fame Racing release J.J. Yeley in favor of unproven 20-year-old Brad Coleman?

Yeley, a terrific talent in the USAC open-wheel ranks, simply hasn't produced at the NASCAR level. He managed only one top-five finish in two full seasons driving Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car (and we have all seen what that car can do). With HOF, Yeley has fallen out of the top 35 in the owners' standings while getting the same Toyota engines that are powering the Gibbs cars. Coleman, who will make his debut at Michigan in two weeks, was under contract as a developmental driver with HOF and appears to have some potential. He has three top-five finishes in 42 starts in the Nationwide Series.

What's the significance of Dale Earnhardt Inc. getting Martin Truex Jr. re-signed?

For DEI to remain a player at NASCAR's Chase-contending level, keeping Truex was critical. Truex has won only once at the Cup level, but the two-time Nationwide Series champion made the Chase last year and gives the organization a fighting chance. Mark Martin is leaving after this season, and the team's other drivers - Paul Menard, Regan Smith and Tampa's Aric Almirola - aren't at Truex's level yet. Had Truex left, DEI might have experienced an exodus of key personnel and sponsors.

Which road-course ringers are entered at Watkins Glen?

Ron Fellows, who won the Nationwide Series race at Montreal last weekend, is in for Smith in DEI's No. 01 Chevy (he also drove the car at Sonoma in June). Australian Marcos Ambrose, third at Montreal, is driving the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Ford. Boris Said, Brian Simo, Max Papis and P.J. Jones also have rides. Jones will drive the HOF Toyota. And, of course, there are several Sprint Cup regulars who are road-course aces, including Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, A.J. Allmendinger and Patrick Carpentier.

Keeping Up With The Local

Tampa's Aric Almirola will make his first start in DEI's No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet since last month's announcement that he will drive the car full time next year.

Almirola is sharing the car with Mark Martin this year and will make the sixth of 12 scheduled starts. He has three of those in the next four weeks.

Though having little experience on road courses, Almirola did a respectable job at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., in June.

"Once I started to get a hang of racing on a road course, I actually started to like it," said Almirola, who finished 28th and on the lead lap at Sonoma. "The goal for Watkins Glen will be the same as in Sonoma - to keep all four tires on the pavement and get the best finish possible in the soldiers' car."

Zephyrhills' David Reutimann also will be running in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series this weekend at Watkins Glen. It'll be his first Sprint Cup start at the track, because he gave way to road-course specialist P.J. Jones during his rookie season.

"Obviously, I've run a couple of road-course events this season in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, but as a whole, road racing isn't really one of my strengths," Reutimann said.

Reutimann's dad, Buzzie, is scheduled to run the MRO/NASCAR Night at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, N.Y., tonight.

Tony Fabrizio

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