Carpentier talks up Nazareth prospects

The key will be the new Handford Mk II short oval wing, which will provide more downforce than the superspeedway set up, while allowing for better slipstreaming than the tiny speedway devices used at Nazareth last year.

"I think it should be good - a lot better than last year," said the Canadian about the quality of the racing expected at the 0.946 mile oval.

"Last year, actually, was fairly boring because we couldn't pass or do anything," he went on. "With the new wings, I think it should be back to what it was a few years ago and we should see a lot more passing on the back straight, which is about the only place we can pass cars. It should be a lot better."

Carpentier, who has a good starting record at Nazareth, believes that the changes will be good for his prospects in the race.

"I feel I can be fairly aggressive and with the bigger wings it should be better for me. I like the track layout and the team typically gives me a good car and this weekend should be no different," he said.

In fact, the former Toyota Atlantic champions is relishing his chances of racing hard on the Pennsylvania circuit, particularly after his strong run to fifth at Homestead from the back of the field.

"It was great racing, a lot of fun. It was a good race and we had a decent car. I think we ended up passing 31 cars altogether. I enjoy racing when the car is like that. It doesn't happen that way all the time, but that time it did. We had a flat tyre, but we kind of pulled through the bad luck we had, didn't give up and kept going and going. At the end, we got some points out of it and minimized the damage, so I was pretty happy as far as that's concerned."

"I will be disappointed if I am not on the podium. That's what we are going there this weekend for," Carpentier asserted.

"Nazareth is a tight circuit and you have to try and start closer to the front. This can be a very good weekend for us."