We went into Watkins Glen feeling optimistic. Team TGM had tested at Watkins Glen a few weeks earlier, so we arrived with recent experience and a reasonable sense of what we thought the cars would need. Testing is valuable because it gives you time to work through setups, gather data, and arrive at race weekend with fewer unknowns. At least, that is the idea.

Racing looks like adrenaline. But it runs on calculation. You’re balancing tire wear, fuel strategy, competitor behavior, weather shifts, traffic, and more, all in real time. And you can’t afford to guess. One bad call costs you the race. One smart call can flip the entire outcome.