Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Watkins Glen

Got a drought? Book ya some NASCAR. But for now, enjoy some Notes & Quotes.

Marcos Ambrose tried his best to make my prediction come true Sunday with a second-place finish. Tires and pit strategy, though, seemed to keep him from really battling Tony Stewart for the win.

Regardless, Ambrose may be ultra-talented on the road courses but look for his No. 47 to a be strong contender to make the Chase in 2010. Dude really is that good -- in everything he drives.

Surprisingly enough, Sunday's rainout at Watkins Glen was just the second time since 1986 that the Sprint Cup Series had a race affected by precipitation at that track. Kyle Petty won the 1992 event in shortened fashion when the race was called after 51 of the 90 laps.

A surprise, of course, because most NASCAR weekends at the 2.45-mile road course feature at least one practice or qualifying session impacted by rain. In 23 years, though, the race had never been rained out prior to Sunday's gullywasher.

Combined with last weekend's rainout at Pocono, Watkins Glen marked the first time since 2007 that two consecutive Sprint Cup races had to be postponed. That year, both May races at Richmond and Darlington got pushed to Sunday afternoon after a Saturday night of rain.

Why is there no type of track cover system in place for a majority of a race track's straightaways? Wouldn't it be easy to adapt a retractable tarp (similar to one that covers a baseball field) just outside of a retaining wall?

Consider it a random thought, but it has perplexed me for a long time. Sure, it'd be tough to get them in place quickly, but when rain is possible before a race the tarps could already be in position.

Jeff Gordon learned the hard way twice over the weekend at Watkins Glen.

First, he qualified the No. 24 deep in the field despite having a car that he thought was good enough for a top-10. Gordon blamed the slow performance on the fact that he had yet to run a full-out qualifying lap at The Glen in the Car of Tomorrow chassis (2007 and 2008 were both rained out), which caused him to be far too conservative in the braking zones.

The bad qualifying spot translated into another lesson at Watkins Glen -- especially in the era of double-file restarts -- that being back in traffic can get a driver caught up in other people's mess very easily. Twice Sunday was the fate for Gordon, the last of which was the harrowing wreck with Sam Hornish Jr. and Jeff Burton.

NASCAR has kept far from ever deciding to use rain tires in the Sprint Cup Series but, according to a NASCAR.com article, the tire supplier seems ready for the task should they be asked.

Goodyear's head of race tire sales Greg Stucker told the website that they've actively developed a second-generation rain tire that could be capable of running in the near future both on the Nationwide and Sprint Cup platforms.

"We're confident we could have a package that would be suitable, if that's what they chose to do," said Stucker of the sanctioning body.

The tire company did a test with Juan Pablo Montoya in the offseason and found that the new tread design that was sporting wider treads and thicker 'blocks' was on the right track.

"We were very happy," Stucker said. "From torrential downpours to puddles and then a little bit of drying condition now and then, I thought the tires performed very well."

Oval rain tires haven't been developed yet, but if these road course tires are available its much past the time in NASCAR's life that it needs to actively find a way to race in the rain.

Last year's rain race in Montreal was a mixed bag for the Nationwide Series, but there's got to be answers on how to keep the rooster tails smaller, prevent the windows from fogging over and create windshields and wipers that are effective at high speeds. Testing, my friends, would go along way into solving those answers.

Rain racing wouldn't be at all like a dry race, but if you've got the technology with fans in the grandstands expecting to see a Sunday road course race, that race needs to be run on Sunday -- wet or dry.