NASCAR to consider longer Watkins Glen circuit?

Before Tuesday's ride swap with Lewis Hamilton, there was a section of the Watkins Glen International road course Stewart had never seen, the 0.95-mile boot-shaped section called-you guessed it-the "boot." After racing on it in both a Sprint Cup and a Formula One car, Stewart would like to see NASCAR incorporate the boot into its August Cup race here. "I enjoyed the long course," Stewart said. "I'd never been around it till today. I told (NASCAR executive and pace car driver) Brett Bodine when we got out of the car after our setup runs that I would like the opportunity to see us having a shot at running the long course. I think it would create more passing opportunities, for sure, and it's just such a historic racetrack, and there are some really cool corners down there that we don't get a shot to run on a Cup weekend." Jimmie Johnson said much the same thing after running a Grand-Am race at the Glen last year. Armed with the endorsements of Stewart and Johnson, WGI president Michael Printup plans to lobby NASCAR president Mike Helton, vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and senior vice president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell about running the full course. The tradeoff would be a reduction in the number of laps on a longer course. Sporting News