Despite only having one Cup start at Watkins Glen International, the road course is one of AJ's favorite tracks to drive. With a lot of experience turning both left and right from his open wheel days, this weekend will be a huge opportunity for AJ to become another one of this season's first time winners. His teammate Kasey Kahne won the other road course race at Sonoma, and AJ had a strong 7th place finish despite an off-track excursion early in the race that sent him a lap down.
AJ had an excellent showing in this race in 2008 driving for Red Bull Racing, and was happy to be disappointed with an 11th place finish. It was also a memorable race because the strong finish put AJ and the #84 into the top 35 in owner's points for the first time in his career. Yet he was still quoted as saying that he was going to lose sleep for giving up a top ten run in the closing laps.
While AJ certainly knows how to finesse his car around the corners and pick off competitors one by one, he has yet to make a qualifying attempt at The Glen. Rain washed out qualifying in both 2007 and 2008. In his first full year of Cup racing in 2007, the #84 Red Bull car was far enough back in owner's points that the rain sent them home. In 2008 however, AJ was safely locked into the race and took the green flag in 37th spot.
According to the Weather Channel, rain should not be a factor in qualifying on Friday. I'm sure that AJ will put down a solid lap, hopefully get a chance to fine tune the car on Saturday, and get down to business on Sunday. I know that this will be one race that I for sure will be staying home for, not only because watching AJ drive the road courses is like watching an artist at work, but because I know that my driver can go to Victory Lane for the first time this weekend. And there is no way in hell that I'm going to miss that.
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