Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney discuss how turn 1 rumble strips influence cars at Watkins Glen

NASCAR drivers Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney have shared their thoughts on the recently added rumble strips on turn one at Watkins Glen International. Rumble Strips help in preventing drivers from driving off the track, but they can be counterproductive at higher speeds.

Former Cup Series champion Keselowski drives the #6 Ford for Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing and competes full-time in the Cup Series. Over his 17-year career, Keselowski has claimed 76 race victories, including 36 in the Cup Series. In 2010, he dominated the Xfinity Series, winning six races and capturing the championship title.

Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney pilots the #12 Ford for Team Penske and is the reigning Cup Series champion. Blaney has 12 race wins to his name in the Cup Series, with his last triumph coming in the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Recently, rumble strips were added on turn one at the Watkins Glen International Road Course. Ahead of the Go Bowling at the Glen playoff race, Brad Keselowski and Blaney were asked what they thought about the new addition to the track, and how it would affect their performance in the race (via Frontstretch on YouTube).

"It's really interesting. I give Goodyear a lot of credit for going to work. Last year I felt like this was one of the tracks with the least amount of tire fall off and it really hindered the ability for I think great action.[...]Somebody went out there and really worked hard on grinding the track and doing a whole bunch of things and it hasn't made a huge difference yet[...]It's probably wearing the tires more but there's so much speed it probably doesn't matter, there's still a lot of speed out there," Keselowski said.

Team Penske's #12 driver and reigning Cup Series champion Blaney also shared his views on how he plans on tackling the changes made at Watkins Glen. He said,

"It's just kind of fine-tuning everything like we talk about thousands of inches you know making a big difference of travel and it's all you can do really is like travel with the car. It's pretty basic honestly nowadays it's just who does it efficiently uh more efficient than the other people and that's all you can do." [05:10]

Brad Keselowski finished the first playoff race at Atlanta in P19, whereas Blaney secured a P2 finish in the Quaker State 400. As things currently stand, Keselowski is P13 in the driver standings, 45 points behind Team Penske's #12 driver, who is on top of the leaderboard

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Brad Keselowski sheds light on expectations from the remaining Round of 16 playoff races

Brad Keselowski is currently at 2,026 points in the standings, just one point behind Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing, who occupies the final spot in the Round of 12. Despite the narrow gap, Keselowski remains confident in his ability to make a significant run for the championship.

In the aforementioned interview, the 40-year-old was asked to share his thoughts on the two remaining races in the first round of the playoffs. He said,

"Here(Watkins Glen), not so great. You know Bristol's been really good to us, we just want to be in fighting range for Bristol and you know even if we're not in fighting range I think we have a great shot to win" [02:24]

The final race in the Round of 16 is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Brad Keselowski secured a top-five finish earlier this year.