During a test at Pocono last month, several drivers lauded the elimination of the curb, which could feel like much more than a mere bump at 180 mph. More catchfencing and an additional length of the SAFER barrier have also been added in the area, which is better known as the "tunnel" turn since it runs over the infield access tunnel. The goal of the change was to try and keep the field tighter together through that corner, which track management hopes will ultimately translate into closer finishes.

But the elimination of the curb also prompts natural questions over whether the more adventurous drivers in the Sprint Cup Series will try and use that extra 15 feet of new asphalt to cut the corner, as many competitors now routinely do with the reconfigured dogleg in Phoenix. The answer? You’re probably more likely to find a Gila monster stalking the shores of Long Pond.

"I’ve got probably a handful of guys that I have an idea that would try to do that, try to cut the race track. And it’s not going to be good for them when they try to do it," said four-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin, who will start on the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race (1 p.m. ET, TNT).

"It’s a cool idea, but the new asphalt is like two inches higher than the old asphalt. It’s not a new transition. So you’re going to rip your splitter. You’re literally just going to tear your front end right off the car if you try to cut that corner. But somebody’s going to get forced down there probably at some point, and I’ll be interested to see what the outcome is of that.

"But you can’t use it like Phoenix. At Phoenix, you’re running 120 mph, where here you’re running 190 going into that corner. And … if the new asphalt is two inches higher — physics ain’t going to let that happen. It’s a cool thought, but it’s not going to be usable."

Given the narrow width of the tunnel turn — which is a replica of a corner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — drivers were happy to see the curb go. With the speeds they carry into that corner, they might as well have been hitting a wall. And the extended apron at the least provides an escape route for drivers who find themselves in trouble.

"I think it is a great change, because … when (cars) get pushed down, at least now you have somewhere to go," said Brad Keselowski, who will start third Sunday. "That curb before was kind of a race-killer. If you hit it, it would damage the front splitter on these cars, and that dictates a lot of the car’s performance, and it could really end your day and not necessarily be your fault. I thought it was a good thing and a great change."

But as for cutting the corner at full speed? "I am sure someone is going to try it," said Keselowski, one of the first to make a practice of cutting the dogleg in Phoenix. "Clean air is so important, and when we all go down into Turn 2 and we are stacked up, I am sure someone will try to use it to find clean air. We will be all watching to see how they get through or if they make it. It should be interesting. It looks really rough down there, and I am not so confident the car will stick there, but I am sure someone will try it."

Given that berths in the expanded Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup now hinge on race wins, perhaps someone trying to steal a victory on a green-white-checkered restart? Hamlin certainly hopes not.

"I think all the Cup drivers are smarter than that," the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. "But I’m telling you, the new asphalt is so much higher, and it’s not smoothed out at all. It’s not a smooth transition. So it’s literally like you just hit a huge jump when you hit it. … The only reason somebody’s going to go down there is if they get forced down there. And if they get forced, they probably are going to be turning hard left into the garage as soon as they get to the front straightaway."

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A few members of the No. 47 team headed west immediately after the most recent Sprint Cup Series event at Dover, meaning they haven’t been home since before last weekend. Since the Sonoma track was booked for Wednesday, Allmendinger tested on the serpentine layout Tuesday and Thursday, and his crew was already packing up the truck during the driver’s final 15-lap run on the last day. They pulled out of the garage at about 4 p.m. Pacific time, and then drove to an hour to the Oakland airport to catch a 7 p.m. Pacific time flight.

Since they were delayed getting out, their layover in Phoenix turned into a hustle to the gate. There wasn’t much sleep on the five-hour flight to Newark. "A little bit," Burns said. "On and off. The airplane window doesn’t feel like a pillow."

And Pocono certainly doesn’t feel like Sonoma, the buff-colored hills of the Northern California road course giving way to the greenery surrounding the 2.5-mile triangle.

"As soon as we landed, it was just as fast as we could get to the track," Burns said. Half the team had stayed behind to prep the Pocono cars, with the road warriors from the test joining the remainder of the crew at about 7:30 a.m. ET Friday. The weariness might have shown in the day’s lone Sprint Cup practice session, where Allmendinger was 32nd.

"Showing up for practice this morning, it was catch up as fast as you can," said Burns, whose team is affiliated with Richard Childress Racing. "The driver’s a little tired, and we were off a little bit just from not being caught up from this morning and talking to the RCR teams. But by the end of practice, we feel we’ve got a pretty good car here. I think we’re caught up."

The No. 47 car certainly showed improvement in qualifying, placing 21st on the grid. "We were so far off when we unloaded, to at least get in the ballpark is good," Allmendinger said. "I’m used to racing a 24-hour race, so that’s nothing. I’m more proud of my guys. They’re the ones who should get the credit for how hard they work."

Allmendinger said he grabbed about 90 minutes of sleep after the team finally arrived in Pocono, and took another nap in the long break between practice and qualifying. He managed Friday with "some coffee, some water, back to coffee. My throat doesn’t feel real good right now," he said. But he realized the crewmen who made the trip with him had it worse.

"It’s part of it," he said. "To be able to go test at Sonoma, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’m fine. It’s the guys who have worked their butts off. We had five crew guys, and they’re the ones working their tails off. I’m fortunate — I get to at least go lay down in the bus for an hour and be ready. So I’m proud of those guys."

Allmendinger has two Nationwide Series victories on road courses, and finished ninth at Sonoma in his last premier-series race there, in 2012 with Team Penske. The JTG Daugherty driver was 20th in Sprint Cup points coming to Pocono, and the No. 47 team clearly sees the June 22 race at Sonoma as its best chance to record a victory that would likely earn it a berth into the Chase. If that happens, the efforts of one sleepless 48-hour period will have proven more than worth it.

"If we hadn’t had gone there, and we would have unloaded the way we unloaded at the test, we would have been awful," Allmendinger said. "It would have been a nightmare of a weekend. It’s already made a huge difference. If we’d have gone with what we planned to start with — I can’t even describe how bad we were. It was already worth it for that factor."

"We are very glad we went out there to test," Burns said. "Because we felt like when we unloaded, we were not where we wanted to be. But we made a ton of gains just in those two days. We feel way better about it. I can just imagine how the weekend would have gone unloading without going to the test and assuming what we were going into the test with last year’s stuff. It wasn’t the same thing. We feel real good about going back to Sonoma this time."

But first, they had to get through Friday at Pocono. The dark circles under the crew chief’s eyes were evidence of the redeye flight.

"We’re trying to all blow it off," Burns said of the fatigue. "We’re all shoving Monsters and Red Bulls down our throats here waiting to crash. But we’ll be all right."

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