July 28, 2012 in Sports

Indy provides tough test for Nationwide drivers

Associated Press
 
Tags:auto racingnascar
Smith honors Colo. victims

 The Sprint Cup car Regan Smith is driving this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will honor victims of the shootings at a Colorado movie theater.

 Smith drives for the Furniture Row Racing Team, whose shop is about 7 miles from the Aurora theater where a gunman launched an attack July 20 that killed 12 people and injured 58 others.

INDIANAPOLIS – For drivers, today’s first-ever NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway represents a chance to run on perhaps the most famous track in racing.

It is also one of the tougher tests they will face all season.

The historic 2.5-mile oval has hosted NASCAR’s top-level series, now known as Sprint Cup, since 1994 but didn’t add the second-tier Nationwide Series until this year. For many drivers in the field, it will be their first time racing at Indy – and they are in for a challenge.

“This place is not forgiving at all,” Nationwide points leader Elliott Sadler said. “It’s fast, the corners are sharp. You’ve got to be on your money, I think, to run some fast laps here.”

Sadler raced at Indianapolis 12 times in Cup, including a third-place finish in 2004 and a fourth-place finish in 2008.

He said the track’s combination of long, high-speed straightaways and sharp, unbanked turns make it one of the toughest to master.

“Banking makes us drivers look good, because it makes it more forgiving,” Sadler said. “The banking can catch you if you’re tight or if you’re loose and you can move around on the track. Here, you’ve got to run the bottom, it’s very flat so if you overdrive the corner, the car takes off on you, there’s no banking to catch you.

“It’s a very tough, hard, momentum place to race at, and it’s going to take these guys a race or two to understand what they need, especially when you’re (in) traffic with 42 other cars around you.”

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Get stories like this in a free daily email

Recent stories in Sports

Please keep it civil. Don't post comments that are obscene, defamatory, threatening, off-topic, an infringement of copyright or an invasion of privacy. Read our forum standards and community guidelines.

You must be logged in to post comments. Please log in here or click the comment box below for options.

comments powered by Disqus