ICKLER: Ready To Run At Quirky Gateway
14.07.10
There is no track on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule quite like Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.
Built in 1996 by Chris Pook, former President and CEO of CART and the founder of the highly successful Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.), Gateway is a 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval.
Turns one and two have a tight radius and are banked at 11 degrees, while turns three and four are longer and more sweeping, but have slightly less banking at nine degrees.
What that means for drivers and crew chiefs in Friday night's CampingWorld.com 200 is that compromise is the key. Because each end of the track is different, it's very difficult to set up the racetruck so it handles well at both ends.
Brian Ickler, driver of the No. 18 Viasystems Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, knows that good communication with crew chief Eric Phillips will be crucial to making sure his truck handles as best as possible on Gateway's quirky layout. Ickler
Source: TruckSeries.com