After a successful two-day Goodyear
Tire Test at Michigan International Speedway, some NASCAR drivers say
they are happy with the repave.
Oh, and the track is fast. They all said that, too.
“This place is fast. I mean fast,
fast,” NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya said. “Our minimum
speed this morning was over 180 mph through the corner when you think
about it. We are doing easily over 210 mph at the end of the straight.
“For a car like this, it is really,
really quick. It is a lot of fun. I think as the track links up I think
it is going to bring great racing. That is pretty good.”
Montoya knows good racing. As an Indianapolis 500 winner, CART
champion and multiple winner in the FIA Formula One World Championship,
he also knows speed.He along with Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch tested at MIS on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Official speeds were not available. But participating drivers said and tweeted they unofficially topped speeds of about 215 mph.
“I’m not sure I want to know I’m going that fast,” Gordon joked.
A Goodyear Tire test isn’t necessarily
about speed. The test is about collecting data so the tire company can
build a good race tire for the track’s NASCAR events.
This is the fourth time the racetrack has been repaved. The track was built in 1968, and repaved in 1977, 1986 and 1995.
In fact, most drivers don’t like repaves, they said. They like racing on old pavement.
However, this is the best repave Gordon said he’s seen. And it’s one of his favorite racetracks.
“I am not a big fan of repaves so the
fact that I am talking positive about it and still enjoying the
racetrack as much as I always have I think that is a sign where I rank
it. I rank it very high,” Gordon said. “Whatever it is about this track,
it has just always had a great feel to it. Instead of having to go in
and recreate some of that like some track have had to do, they were
basically able to pave over the top of what they had, fix whatever they
could to keep it lasting as long as possible, which you would typically
do on a repave.
“The track drives so similar to the way it did before and it is going to have multiple groves.”
All the drivers added they believe Ryan Newman’s track qualifying record of 194.232 mph set back in 2005 is in jeopardy.
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