How to Drive the NASCAR Road Courses

There are more than 30 races in a NASCAR season, but only two of them are on road courses. "You turn right, you go up and down hills, and you have to do some heavy braking," says Johnny Benson, driver of the #10 Tyler Jet Motorsports Lycos Pontiac. "That's different from a high-speed oval."

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Binoculars
• Binoculars Cases
• Monopoly® NASCAR® - Collector's Edition
• ESPN - The Magazine
• Sports Illustrated Magazines
• PlayStation NASCAR 2000
• Nintendo 64 NASCAR 99
• Winston Cup Scene Magazines
• Stock Car Racing Magazines
• EHobbies - Diecast Collectibles - NASCAR Race Cars
• Public Service Band Scanners
• NASCAR Uncut Videos
• NASCAR 50th Anniversary Southern Exposure Videos

1. Go to a road-racing course driving school in the off-season if you don't have experience on the left-right circuits.
2. Set up team practices on a road course during the off-season.
3. Have your team build a specialized road course car, one set up both for left and right turns.
4. Learn to be smooth. Manhandling a car and using lots of power and heavy braking may not be the fastest way around a road course.
5. Follow one of the NASCAR road course wizards during practice sessions and watch how the driver picks lines through the corners.
6. Go all out in qualifying. It's relatively difficult to pass on road courses, and a starting position up front can be a great advantage.
7. Remember, you can be more aggressive on road courses than on superspeedways.

Tips & Warnings

• Johnny Benson notes, "The road courses are different from what we normally drive," so drivers approach Watkins Glen and Sears Point with a different mind-set.
• Some NASCAR drivers began go-kart racing as youngsters, and thus have raced on road courses previously. A few others have raced in series where road courses are regular venues. Most, however, are primarily experienced on ovals.
• Preparing for any race requires maximum effort from everyone on the team, but road courses are especially challenging. "It's just a situation where you need to dig down hard and get the cars the best you can," says Johnny Benson.