Burton sees similarities in NASCAR's two Cup road courses
Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton says that the two road courses on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule are different, but they seem more similar to drivers who aren't as accustomed to road-course racing than they might to someone more familiar with a diverse set of courses.
To prepare for this weekend's Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen International Burton, who has two top-five and three top-10 finishes in 14 races there, recently tested at Road Atlanta.
As he compares Watkins Glen to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., Burton says that they are somewhat comparable, though they are also quite distinct.
“The tracks at Watkins Glen and Sonoma are comparable in the same way as Pocono and Indy are comparable," Burton said. "The tracks are different but the same. For people like me who don’t have road-course experience, I think there are similarities because the driving style is very similar. In some ways, technically, there is not a lot of information we use from one race to the other, but from a driving standpoint it’s the same.”
Still, Burton is glad to be getting this race out of the way before the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup begins. With five races to go before the Chase field is set, Burton is fifth in the standings. While he's not complaining about going to a road course, he is glad that there is not one in the Chase.
"I don’t think one belongs in the Chase," he said. "I think the Chase should have a fair representation of the race tracks we run the majority of the time. I’m a proponent of the fact that we have 36 races a year and two of them are road courses, which is a small percentage, so the Chase shouldn’t have a road course in it because it would be unfairly represented in what we currently know the Cup series to be.”
