WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- It begins with topography. Race cars zooming down the long, fast frontstretch at Watkins Glen International crest a rise at the start-finish line, and storm downhill toward Turn 1. During the course of an event, the track surface gets more and more slick. With so much of the car's weight tipped toward the front, sometimes the rear tires lock up in a condition drivers call "axle hop." The result is an out-of-control slide past the first turn and into the paved runoff area, and a lost chance at victory if it occurs to the leader late in the race.

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There's a lot of crazy stuff that happens down in Turn 1, and I guarantee that if you're leading the race here this weekend, the last thing you're going to want to see is a caution.

”

-- JEFF GORDON

It happens to the best of them. In 2007, Jeff Gordon overran Turn 1 at Watkins Glen with two laps remaining, handing the win to Tony Stewart. Six years earlier, Dale Jarrett saw a two-second lead evaporate when his car missed the first turn and became mired in the gravel trap that lurked outside the corner until it was removed in late 2005. On the entire 2.45-mile road course, there's not a turn more difficult than that big, downhill right-hander that opens every lap.

"Leaders, drivers in general, it's tough to hit your marks lap after lap," Kurt Busch said, "because you're going downhill, and the car is right on that ragged edge of spinning out each time."

And now, add the element of double-file restarts to the mix. The recent NASCAR rule change placing lead-lap cars beside one another on restarts has led to frantic, almost chaotic action at the end of some races. Monday's rain-delayed event at Pocono Raceway, where cars banged four-wide after several drivers chose to stay out and pin the leaders back in the field, particularly stoked tempers and frayed nerves.

It also begs the question of what might happen in Sunday's Cup event at Watkins Glen, where Turn 1 is tough enough for cars running by themselves -- much less for multiple drivers cramming the front and leaning on one another for position.

"I think it's going to be really, really intense here," Gordon said.

Yet opinion among drivers is split on exactly how treacherous double-file restarts may be on an already treacherous part of the race track. The removal of the gravel trap, which didn't just cost cars position but often took them out of the race altogether, clearly increases the margin for error. (Continued)