Cateras were gorgeous, very capable cars but got a bad name for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that the oil cooler sat in the valley between the cylinders on the 3.0-liter V6, and the early ones (‘97-’99) failed frequently, mixing oil with coolant with catastrophic results.

And ironically, one of his three non-points race wins at the Cup level (he never won a Cup points race) was on a road course: The NASCAR Thunder Suzuka Special at Suzuka in Japan in 1997. I’m probably just proving your point. A NASCAR driver with a reputation for weakness on road courses is still a pretty good road…