Gordon: Cup not ready for wet race

The four-time Cup champion said he was impressed by how well the race in Canada unfolded, despite it being the first time in nearly nine years that NASCAR had run on a wet track.

He expected the race to be a lot more chaotic than it actually was and claimed the Sprint Cup should consider racing under those conditions in the future.

"It went way better than I thought," Gordon said about the Nationwide event at Montreal. "I thought they were never going to make it through Turn One so I was pretty impressed.

"I remember when we were here several years ago, we put rain tyres on, my windshield wiper fell off the car in Turn One, and I didn't even feel like I could go down the straightaway.

"I certainly was impressed with what they were able to do there and it would probably be something that we need to take into consideration."

Gordon believes teams would still have to address the visibility issues that hampered some at Montreal, causing a couple of incidents under caution when drivers got caught out by others slowing down in front of them.

He added that a test would be necessary under those conditions before Sprint Cup teams seriously consider running in the wet.

"They had major issues with being able to see, that was the biggest one," said Gordon. "The tyres held up pretty good and I was surprised, they were going faster than I thought they'd be able to. I was impressed.

"That was a good test in itself, but I think if it is truly going to be an option for us we really do need to test those conditions. I don't even know how you do that, but we need to really get after it because there's a lot more that needs to be done.

"In the past when we've shown up here it was 'okay, we'll put a windshield wiper on, a brake light, a defogger', but we never really took it seriously."

In anticipation of what seems likely to be a weekend at Watkins Glen, NASCAR officials have made it clear that even under persistent rain on Sunday, the Sprint Cup series race will not be run on a wet track.