BY SAM MORSE and BRANDON LAWSON
WATKINS GLEN--With two races to go before the playoffs begin in September, NASCAR comes to Watkins Glen this weekend to set the stage for the championship finals. The Cup race on Sunday will be at 3 p.m. and feature 90 laps with 220.5 miles on the historic road course.
Coming in to The Glen, Michael McDowell won last weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, with Chase Elliott, Daniel Suárez, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman rounding out the top five.
The overall driver standings for the playoffs have Martin Truex Jr. leading the pack with William Byron second and Denny Hamlin third. Last year’s winner at Watkins Glen, Kyle Larson, is sitting fourth and has two wins already in 2023. Larson also recorded 10 top-five finishes, the most of any driver this year.
Elliott, who won at WGI in 2018 and 2019, currently is in 19th place.
Last Sunday after winning at Indianapolis Michael McDowell said, “This Next-Gen car has really helped us on the road courses, and last year we were close. We weren’t a race-winning car, but I felt like we were a top three to five car, and we’ve just built on that and built on that and built on that...I think we’ve been the fastest road course car since this Next-Gen car over the average of it, and I think statistically it’ll show that. I think if you just look at the average finish and you look at average running position, we’ve been a top-five car every single road course race since this Next-Gen car has come in.”
Talking about Watkins Glen, “I haven’t let the playoffs set in yet because winning here has been so cool. I think tomorrow or Tuesday when we think about Watkins Glen and we think about how we don’t have to just crush every element, that we can just go there and go for the win and have fun, which I think we can do, it’s going to be a big relief.”
Commenting on coming in second place last weekend, Chase Elliott said, “Our NAPA Chevy was really good, really good. Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win.”
Elliott has only run 17 races this season after he suffered a fractured tibia in a snowboarding accident in March. He will be looking to get into victory lane for the first time this season at WGI.
Hendrick Motorsports, his team, has the most victories at Watkins Glen with 10. Elliott holds the most wins among active drivers on a road course (seven) and ranks third all-time behind NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). In the three road course events that Elliott has run this season, he has finished in the top five in all of them – fifth at Sonoma Raceway, third at the Chicago Street Course and second at Indianapolis.
However, Kyle Larson has two wins at The Glen with a chance for three in a row. The only other drivers to accomplish that feat are Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.
The year’s race will be the first since 2009 without long-time track President Michael Printup at the helm of the operation. He announced earlier this year he was retiring after the six-hour race. A replacement has not been publicly named yet. The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association went on to name Printup their president after he left Watkins Glen.
The races on Saturday and Sunday can be seen on the USA Network and tickets are still available for the weekend. See www.theglen.com for additional details. The ARCA General Tire 100 will run Friday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m., the Shriners Children’s 200 Xfinity race is at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and the Cup race is at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
WATKINS GLEN--With two races to go before the playoffs begin in September, NASCAR comes to Watkins Glen this weekend to set the stage for the championship finals. The Cup race on Sunday will be at 3 p.m. and feature 90 laps with 220.5 miles on the historic road course.
Coming in to The Glen, Michael McDowell won last weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, with Chase Elliott, Daniel Suárez, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman rounding out the top five.
The overall driver standings for the playoffs have Martin Truex Jr. leading the pack with William Byron second and Denny Hamlin third. Last year’s winner at Watkins Glen, Kyle Larson, is sitting fourth and has two wins already in 2023. Larson also recorded 10 top-five finishes, the most of any driver this year.
Elliott, who won at WGI in 2018 and 2019, currently is in 19th place.
Last Sunday after winning at Indianapolis Michael McDowell said, “This Next-Gen car has really helped us on the road courses, and last year we were close. We weren’t a race-winning car, but I felt like we were a top three to five car, and we’ve just built on that and built on that and built on that...I think we’ve been the fastest road course car since this Next-Gen car over the average of it, and I think statistically it’ll show that. I think if you just look at the average finish and you look at average running position, we’ve been a top-five car every single road course race since this Next-Gen car has come in.”
Talking about Watkins Glen, “I haven’t let the playoffs set in yet because winning here has been so cool. I think tomorrow or Tuesday when we think about Watkins Glen and we think about how we don’t have to just crush every element, that we can just go there and go for the win and have fun, which I think we can do, it’s going to be a big relief.”
Commenting on coming in second place last weekend, Chase Elliott said, “Our NAPA Chevy was really good, really good. Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win.”
Elliott has only run 17 races this season after he suffered a fractured tibia in a snowboarding accident in March. He will be looking to get into victory lane for the first time this season at WGI.
Hendrick Motorsports, his team, has the most victories at Watkins Glen with 10. Elliott holds the most wins among active drivers on a road course (seven) and ranks third all-time behind NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). In the three road course events that Elliott has run this season, he has finished in the top five in all of them – fifth at Sonoma Raceway, third at the Chicago Street Course and second at Indianapolis.
However, Kyle Larson has two wins at The Glen with a chance for three in a row. The only other drivers to accomplish that feat are Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.
The year’s race will be the first since 2009 without long-time track President Michael Printup at the helm of the operation. He announced earlier this year he was retiring after the six-hour race. A replacement has not been publicly named yet. The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association went on to name Printup their president after he left Watkins Glen.
The races on Saturday and Sunday can be seen on the USA Network and tickets are still available for the weekend. See www.theglen.com for additional details. The ARCA General Tire 100 will run Friday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m., the Shriners Children’s 200 Xfinity race is at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and the Cup race is at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
