New Jersey Saturday Notebook

Extended guardrail at the beginning of the pit lane wall

Mark Cipolloni/AR1.com

After morning clouds the sun is now peeking through and the humidity level is up as the Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes get ready to qualify at the new New Jersey Motorsports Park circuit……The guardrail has been extended at the end of the pit lane wall where Scott Pruett had his big accident on Thursday………The facility is still under construction with a 3/4-mile oval slated for the next phase. The main complaint by the drivers we spoke to was not the end of the pit lane wall, but the huge clouds of dust that get kicked up every time a driver in front puts a wheel off because it is just dirt off the edge of the pavement. Track Spokesperson Shane Mahoney told AutoRacing1.com that "we planted grass seed twice but the summer has been so dry it never took." One driver told us it's like "Desert Storm" out there. Other than the dust issue, which will be resolved once the New Jersey rains return in the autumn, the drivers we talked to all like the track layout. Mark Cipolloni reporting from NJMP