|
|
|
|
The Brickyard has quickly become one of the premier races on the Nascar Winston Cup circuit. Because of its history and huge purse teams prepare for this race for months. Talk of the points standings usually take a back seat to the talk of winning and putting your name on the coveted trophy. Throw in a million dollars from Winston and this race is as competitive as it gets. Keys to The Brickyard: The Start: This is actually a very easy track to run at in a cup car. Fast laps can be turned without much difficulty. Passing and surviving on this track is another story. As the pace car dives off of the track get on the gas as soon as you can. Nascar rules strictly forbid passing on the left before the start/finish line. That said-you should be able to pass a few cars on the right as they fan out on the front straight-away. The first few laps will be a mad scramble as cars try to gain as many positions as they can. This can be both good and bad. You can pick up a lot of positions early as cars make bad decisions-you can also get a little too eager and put yourself in situations that are not the most conducive to finishing a race. The Front Stretch: Indy is an easy track to master, with the right set-up. Starting on the front stretch keep your foot on the gas until you get almost to turn 1 and then lift. You should practice this during warm up or practice sessions. You will then touch the brake to slow the car enough to make it through the turn. A gradual slowing is much better than driving the car as fast as you can and then slamming the brakes to get the car slowed. Often times, slamming the brakes unsettles the car and makes the car hard to handle, scrubbing valuable speed and control. You are going to be at a great advantage if you can run your car on the outside of the turns. As Jeff Gordon showed you can fight off a challenger if you can keep the car on the outside (although the inside is the preferred line). The correct line through any of the turns is a line that goes down low through the turns and then slides out against the wall (called playing tag with the wall because you want to get as close to it as you can but you don't want to touch it). On both the front and back stretches you will find 3 wide racing. The AI usually takes either the inside or the outside, leaving the middle wide open for you. The Short Shoot (actually the place from which this page gets its name) is a good place to make a pass. If you can get a good run off of the corner Then you can easily pull up along side of the car you are trying to pass and then either out brake them, or get them to give up that inside position. This pinch move will virtually guarantee you the position. Remember, there are 2 short shoots for passing. The front and back stretch: Long, wide straight-aways are the places that drivers like to attempt passes the most. A stout car will allow you to draft up on a competitor and then pull out well before the entrance to the turn. Be careful though it's easy to try and make too many passes and leave yourself with no entrance to the turn. This will often result in a wall slap or at least a loss of position. Set yourself up for the next turn by driving the car out against the wall as you near the turn and then turn down into the turn, slowing the car gently. Remember, get back on the gas as soon as our set-up will allow. Don't force the issue-getting on the gas too soon can result your car pushing out against the wall ending your day. As good as a win would be, finishing is always better than a DNF. |
|
