For the fourth time in five years, Sprint Cup qualifying on the road course at Watkins Glen has been canceled due to rain.With results like that, is it time to look at moving the road race at Watkins Glen to a different point on the Sprint Cup schedule? Or does it just always rain when the calendar says August in upper New York?
Either way, Kyle Busch -- who won the other road course race in California this past June -- will start out front thanks to his owner point standing. Self-proclaimed road course racing novice Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second.
NASCAR canceled qualifying and practice because there just wasn't enough time to get both in after rain had previously delayed the Friday schedule.
Two drivers didn't make the race due to the way that the NASCAR rulebook sets the grid for a rained-out qualifying session that factors in races attempted, points, and a roll of the dice (kidding!). Those drivers, Brian Simo and Boris Said, are noted road course racers trying to make the field.
Thanks to the rain, ESPN had to punt with its planned coverage of on-track qualifying coverage and covered Nationwide Series final practice on ESPN2. On that broadcast, they talked with Said -- who will race on Saturday in the Nationwide Series race -- who said that he had been offered a ride by a quality Sprint Cup team who had qualified for the event.
He was going to talk to his team manufacturer sponsor Ford representatives about the move, though, because it would result in driving for a rival manufacturer in the Sprint Cup race. That rival manufacturer would be Dodge in the No. 45 Petty Enterprises car normally driven by Kyle Petty.
As a race fan, I'm hoping that Said can get in the field on Sunday because he could undoubtedly be a contender for a good finish in the right car with the right team.
