Which Foreign-Born Driver Will Excel In Cup At Watkins Glen?

Reportedly rumored to be configured, what would be the best layout for Texas Motor Speedway?

Luken Glover: Intermediate track Texas should be reconfigured into … an intermediate? For the past few years, there have been groups of fans asking for more short tracks. With potential returns of North Wilkesboro Speedway or Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, rumors like Memphis International Raceway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and the evident reconfiguration of Auto Club Speedway, Texas doesn’t need to become a short track. The best racing for the Next Gen car has been at intermediates excluding Texas. Texas used to put on exciting races with the old configuration. So bring an intermediate that allows for multiple grooves and isn’t as dependent on clean air.

Mike Neff: The best layout for most of these intermediates that need to be reconfigured. Somewhere between 5/8 and 7/8 of a mile. It will let most, if not all grandstands stay in place. Minimal effort is needed to change its pit road. Garages can stay exactly the same. It is a very easy reconfiguration.

Jack Swansey: First off, it’s great to see Texas is considering following Auto Club’s lead and taking a big swing at a better layout. Turning Texas into a short track is kind of the obvious answer since it would be good for the NASCAR Cup Series to have another short track outside of the current short track bloc in Virginia and Tennessee. But everything’s supposed to be bigger in Texas. Instead, with Auto Club ripping up its 2-mile layout just as it starts to give us great Cup racing, Texas should step in to replace it. Convert Texas to a 2-mile D-shaped oval with between 9 and 13 degrees of banking and sign long-term deals to run NASCAR and the NTT IndyCar Series. Market it as the world’s fastest racetrack, because technically, with NASCAR’s intermediate aero package and the highest average lap speed on the IndyCar calendar, it would be. It’s time for a new Texas World Speedway to rise from the ashes of Texas Motor Speedway.

Seven countries will be represented in the Cup event at Watkins Glen International. Which of the part-time foreign drivers will be the biggest surprise?

Swansey: 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen. While sports- and touring-car legend Mike Rockenfeller is flying under the radar, he’s driving the Spire Motorsports No. 77, while Raikkonen gets the benefit of one of Trackhouse Racing Team’s dominant road-course cars. Gone are the days when…