Goodyear will bring a concrete-tested tire combination for the NASCAR Cup Series’ first All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway.
Cup Series teams will use a left-side Goodyear Racing Eagle that debuted at Bristol Motor Speedway in April, and the specially designed right-side rubber that ran in Dover’s 400-miler last July. Through Bristol’s 0.533-mile layout is roughly half the size of Dover’s “Monster Mile,” both tracks have concrete surfaces and speedy, high-banked turns.
“Teams will be able to combine their data from Bristol in April with their running from Dover last season to optimize their setups ahead of this weekend,” said Goodyear NASCAR product manager Rick Heinrich. “We are bringing a tire setup specifically designed to withstand the track’s high speeds and heavy loads, while also helping lay rubber on its concrete surface, particularly given how smooth it is.”
Cup Series teams will have one additional set than usual in qualifying for Sunday’s All-Star Race (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, FOX One, HBO Max). The format includes the Pit Crew Challenge in its qualifying procedures, with a four-tire pit stop included in the time trials.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series will have a new combination for their 200-mile races this weekend. The right-side tires in both those series will make their debut at Dover, with a design aimed at handling the track’s speeds and heavy loads. The left-side tires for this weekend were also used at Darlington Raceway, Rockingham Speedway and Bristol earlier this season.
The tire allotments for each team competing this week:
Cup Series: 10 total sets — 6 new sets for the race, 2 for qualifying and Pit Crew Challenge, 2 for practice.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: 5 total sets — 3 new sets for the race, 1 for practice and 1 from qualifying that transfers to the race.
Craftsman Truck Series: 5 total sets — 3 new sets for the race, 1 for practice and 1 from qualifying that transfers to the race.
Mackenzie Deitz Repin would race just about anything, but Figure 8 racing is where her heart lies.
The third-generation driver from Lake Stevens, Washington comes from a long line of Figure 8 racers. Her grandfather, Vern, and uncle were both champions, and she’s one of nine drivers in her family currently competing.
“It’s definitely a family affair,” Repin said. “Our family has very deep roots in Figure 8 racing. That’s where a lot of our family roots are and so that’s what I wanted to try and accomplish. I’m open to any sort of racing, that’s just what’s in my blood.”
As a way to honor the legacy of Figure 8 racing in the northwest, Repin’s car this season at Evergreen Speedway has a new wrap with the names of every past champion in the division at the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts track in Monroe, Washington.
The wrap, Repin said, was a way to “pay tribute to the history and to all the incredible talent there has been and is still around and still racing.”
One of those names is Repin’s. She won her first championship in the Super Stock Figure 8 division at Evergreen last season, and in doing so became the first female champion in that division at the track.
Even though she’s always had the bug to race, Repin got a later start in the sport than many of her competitors. Nine years ago, her grandfather and uncle had cars that were collecting dust, so her uncle let her try her hand in one. She ran a partial schedule in her first year, and said “We did OK. We stayed out of trouble for the most part.”
Mackenzie Deitz Repin comes from a long line of successful Figure 8 racers. (Photo: Courtesy Mackenzie Deitz Repin)
The next year, she moved into her grandfather’s car.
“He was like, ‘Let’s see how you do. That car’s been around for a while. A lot of people have driven it and have won in it,’” she said.
She kept racing and climbing the ranks, seeing improvement every year, which only made her want to keep competing.
The team did well in 2024, winning the first two races, and then three more before the season was done. But motor issues and a couple DNFs put them behind, and the team finished third in the final standings. Even though there were some disappointments, Repin said the strong year gave them confidence heading into 2025.
“We were confident that we had the ability to do it,” she said. “We just really needed to focus on preparing in the shop before every race, going through the car, making sure that it was set to go, and then just being smart on the track, making good decisions, being patient when needing to be patient and being aggressive when it allowed. So, last year I think what really lined up for us was just the consistency.”
Helping in her corner was Repin’s husband, Jake, a two-time track champion who now serves as her crew chief. The two actually met at the race track.
“My husband, first and foremost, he’s really the backbone of our team,” she said. “He has a lot of knowledge and he knows what it’s like to have that pressure on the line trying to go for a championship and trying to prepare and get everything ready for that. So it was really nice to have him in my corner and supporting me that the entire season.
“There’s quite a few that help us out. I really couldn’t do it without the support of my team.”
Repin didn’t have as many wins last season as she did in 2024, but she did finish every race, which was crucial. After finishing on the podium in 11 of 12 races, Repin won the track championship by 38 points.
“To be honest, it felt so surreal,” she said. “Winning the track championship has always been a dream since I started racing nine years ago… And having a family line of champions, thinking about it is a little overwhelming because you want to do well and show that you have the capabilities as well, but it puts a lot on your plate. So, just being able to win that championship, it meant so much for myself.”
While she says she’s never been a points racer, about midway through the season someone told her she also had a shot at winning the NASCAR West Region Division IV championship, which convinced her and the team to really go for another title. To get a few more races and collect points, the team twice traveled eight hours to Coos Bay Speedway in Oregon to compete in the track’s Hornet division. The issue – Coos Bay is a dirt track, and Repin had never raced on dirt before.
“It was different,” Repin said with a laugh. “Definitely different. It’s a completely different feeling.”
In her first practice at Coos Bay, Repin was the slowest car.
“I came back in and my husband/crew chief was like, ‘Babe, you’re pretty slow. You need to pick it up,’” she said.
After getting some pointers from those around her, Repin was third out of 11 cars after qualifying, and she finished third in both of her races at the track, something she said wouldn’t have been possible without her team and competition.
“It’s just taking the input that I get from my team and from my husband,” she said. “There were other racers out there that were giving us some feedback and helping, too, so it was just a team effort being able to do that because I would not have known what to do without the feedback of everybody else.”
At the end of the season, Repin’s success at both tracks was enough to clinch the NASCAR West Region Division IV championship.
“It was pretty surreal,” she said. “Even attempting to try and win it wasn’t even in our playbook for the year.”
Mackenzie Deitz Repin won two races in 2025, which allowed her to claim the Super Stock Figure 8 championship at Evergreen Speedway as well as the NASCAR Local Racing Series Division IV West Region title. (Photo: Courtesy of Mackenzie Deitz Repin)
Repin is hopeful her championship inspires the next generation of racers, and there’s one in her family who is catching on. Her daughter, Trinity, competes in Evergreen’s Hornet division, and has a second and third place finish so far this season.
“Just being able to watch her grow and learn and get more confident in herself and her capabilities has just been such a pleasure to watch,” Repin said. “It’s been pretty incredible watching her get comfortable and confident in herself and go out there with 30 cars.”
So far in 2026, Repin is third in the Super Stock Figure 8 points at Evergreen, just three points behind first.
Just like last year, she said consistency will be key this summer if she wants to compete for a second title.
“My husband and I always say that to win a championship, it’s done in the garage,” she said. “You need to make sure that your car and your equipment is ready to go every race. You don’t want to have a DNF because of something silly like you forgot to nut a bolt on the car. So we’re always in the shop each week working on it.
“We’re ready to try and win another championship. We’re excited. We’re optimistic. We have worked so hard in the offseason and through last year that we really want to try and back it up, but it’s going to take a lot of time and effort and consistency to try and get there. We’ve had an OK start so far this season, so we’re just optimistic trying to get ready for this year.”
Repin will be racing with a family legacy in the history books, and a Figure 8 legacy written right on her car. And she has immense pride in being part of all of it.
“I wish I would have started earlier in life, but it just didn’t work out that way, and so now I’m just trying to take advantage of the time that I have doing it now,” she said.
“This whole experience has just been super surreal. It’s been such a blast being able to do this and getting people interested in Figure 8. Introducing it to more people I think is really important. I just hope that it inspires the next generation and others to get into this sport. It’s for anybody willing to put in the work, and hopefully there’s more people that join. Especially to the young females and ladies that want to but don’t think they can, they absolutely can. I hope it just encourages more ladies, young ladies, all ladies, to get in and try it because you don’t know until you do.”
Racing will return to Evergreen Speedway this Saturday for Busch Light Military Appreciation Night Presented by Good Guys Heating Air & Electrical.
Analysis: Reddick hung out exactly where a far-and-away points leader should at Watkins Glen — near the front all day without forcing the issue against Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance and slipping up in the process. Reddick climbed from 15th to fifth, collected Stage 2 points with a runner-up finish in the segment and left the weekend still holding a massive 129-point championship advantage. Now comes Dover, a place where Reddick’s resume quietly says he’ll be a contender to fittingly win his first All-Star Race amid his superstar season. He owns two top 10s in seven starts at the Monster Mile with a reasonable 14.1 average finish there, but he’s essentially been a top-10 car in each Delaware trip with 23XI.
Analysis: Hamlin’s Watkins Glen day never fully materialized after rolling off 20th and spending most of the race mired in traffic before settling for 16th, but the day didn’t hurt him, either. Looking ahead to this weekend, few drivers are more proven at Dover than Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran owns three Cup wins there — including last year’s race — plus 17 top 10s and 885 laps led in 35 starts. Dover has historically been one of the tracks where Hamlin can assert control quickly, and after a relatively muted Glen run, this weekend sets up as a prime rebound opportunity for one of the sport’s biggest stars.
Analysis: Elliott’s Watkins Glen result was far uglier than the overall pace his No. 9 team has shown this year, and can almost be disregarded after starting 27th, never truly finding clean track position and crossing the line 24th after spending most of the afternoon fighting strategy and traffic instead of contending near the front. Dover, however, has long been one of Elliott’s best tracks, and another All-Star win is within his scope. The Hendrick Motorsports driver owns two wins, 10 top fives and 11 top 10s in 15 starts there, paired with a ridiculous 9.3 average finish. He won at the “Monster Mile” as recently as 2022, and this feels like exactly the type of track where the No. 9 bunch can immediately erase the sting of a frustrating road-course weekend.
Analysis: Blaney quietly pieced together another unheralded but strong afternoon at Watkins Glen, with the No. 12 Ford earning Stage 1 points, staying clean throughout the race and finishing 11th despite never quite having the raw speed to challenge the leaders. Blaney’s Dover numbers are better than many realize, too. In 15 starts, he has just five top 10s, but an overall 16.8 average finish is a misnomer — he hasn’t finished worse than eighth there since 2022.
Analysis: In a way, Gibbs may have had the strongest Watkins Glen showing outside of SVG. The No. 54 led 17 laps, ran inside the top three virtually all afternoon and brought home another exceptional road-course finish of third after briefly controlling the race late. The confidence curve continues pointing sharply upward for the young star, and Dover may suit him just as well. Gibbs already owns two top 10s in only three Cup starts there with an eye-opening 9.3 average finish. Add in his ARCA East Dover win from 2021 — when he led 125 of 125 laps — and the No. 54 team suddenly looks very capable of turning this recent surge into a signature Cup victory and All-Star moment.
Analysis: Though he was eyeing a win, Buescher delivered another steady points day at Watkins Glen, finishing 12th after methodically working forward through the race’s second half. He also collected Stage 2 points, continuing a stretch where the No. 17 team has maximized nearly every weekend regardless of track type — a great sign come Chase time. Dover has historically been solid — if unspectacular — for Buescher in Cup competition, with three top 10s in 15 starts. But the broader resume can matter here too: Buescher won an O’Reilly race at Dover in 2015, and another clean, top-10-caliber run feels well within reach.
Analysis: Larson’s Watkins Glen afternoon never got going, and as a recent dominator there, it’s a bit concerning amid some tepid 2026 returns. That said, Dover should provide a reset. Larson owns a win, 13 top 10s and an absurd 7.9 average finish there — the best average finish among active full-time drivers. Few drivers attack the high line at the “Monster Mile” better than Larson, and if the No. 5 team unloads with speed, he immediately becomes one of the favorites to dominate.
Analysis: Hocevar’s raw finishing position at Watkins Glen — 28th — hardly reflected the pace his team showed early. Hocevar started 11th and ran competitively before fading badly after scrapping throughout the field late. Dover remains largely unknown territory for Hocevar at the Cup level with a pair of finishes outside the top 20, but the track’s aggression-rewarding nature fits his style perfectly. The bigger story is still the standings: Hocevar sits seventh in points after 12 races and has put himself on the map as a star of the sport who could elevate his rising profile even further this weekend.
Analysis: Byron’s Watkins Glen race unraveled late after showing respectable — but not race-winning-competitive — pace early, starting 13th but finishing 36th after struggling late. The timing of a no-pressure Dover race may be somewhat ideal. Byron has just four top 10s there in 11 starts, but proved he can control races there by leading nearly half the race in 2023 and will be hungry to check a lot of boxes — first Dover win, first 2026 win, first All-Star win, etc. — this weekend.
Analysis: Keselowski’s Watkins Glen result was ugly on paper — 30th — but the veteran again showed flashes of pace that didn’t translate into finish position, as the No. 6 team continues to be significantly more competitive in 2026 than its raw results often indicate. Dover could be the place where that finally converts, even if it won’t result in a points boost. Keselowski owns a Cup win there, along with 12 top 10s and more than 400 career laps led at the track.
Analysis: Wallace’s Watkins Glen race was mostly a constant display of frustration, starting 18th and never establishing meaningful forward momentum before settling for 29th in another messy road-course outing with some notable scraps and an animated post-race pit-road discussion. Dover has historically been a difficult track statistically for Wallace, as well, who owns just one top 10 in 11 starts there.
Analysis: And here’s who was on the other end of the animated discussion — as Bell’s Watkins Glen race never really ignited until he climbed out of his No. 20 Toyota. Bell started eighth, lingered around the edge of the top 10 most of the afternoon and ultimately finished 21st after failing to capitalize on strategy shifts and perhaps a little “help.” Now Bell heads to the site of one of his strongest statistical tracks back in his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series days and looking to make it back-to-back All-Star Race wins. The momentum might not be there and he hasn’t quite found success at Dover in Cup yet, but 67 laps led in the race last year inspires at least some degree of confidence.
Analysis: Preece quietly turned in one of the better drives through the field at Watkins Glen, starting 30th before methodically working his way to 14th to continue what has been a legitimately impressive season thus far. Dover hasn’t historically been kind to Preece statistically, but this version of RFK equipment is far stronger than what he drove in many prior appearances there. Preece enters the All-Star Race 13th in points, and the combination of confidence plus organizational speed has made him one of the sneaky breakout stories of 2026.
Analysis: Briscoe backed up some recent speed with another excellent road-course performance at Watkins Glen as he continues to stop the proverbial bleeding. There’s real reason to believe that carries into Dover, where Briscoe was runner-up last year and won the 2020 O’Reilly race at the track during his breakout season.
Analysis: Suárez continued his recent steady stretch with a 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen, keeping himself firmly in the thick of the playoff bubble conversation as the No. 7 team quietly rounds into a dependable week-to-week front-half-of-the-field entry. This could be the weekend he takes another step up, as Suárez has also historically run well at Dover, with five top-10s there in Cup competition and a win in the 2016 O’Reilly race at the track. If Spire Motorsports continues its recent upward trajectory, Suárez feels like one of the stronger dark-horse candidates entering the weekend for what would be a very large All-Star Race win.
Analysis: SVG absolutely dismantled the field at Watkins Glen in one of the more dominant performances in recent memory. SVG led 74 laps from the pole, erased a (very large!) late deficit after pit strategy shuffled him backward and still won by more than seven seconds. Dover presents a totally different challenge, but there are reasons for optimism. SVG’s lone Cup Dover start produced an ugly 30th-place finish, but he did manage to qualify sixth. The bigger factor is confidence: the No. 97 team suddenly has a jolt and will race this weekend with nothing to lose. Another win and the No. 97 team will really be cooking.
Analysis: Cindric quietly pieced together a strong Watkins Glen afternoon after a strong day of practice and qualifying on Saturday, finishing ninth after running near the front early and collecting Stage 1 points. It was another reminder that the No. 2 team has become much steadier in 2026, and Cindric can typically be expected to be heard from on road courses. Dover remains an empty chalice for Cindric in Cup competition, though he did win the 2021 Xfinity race there and owns a sterling 4.6 average finish across seven starts in that series. Presumably he’ll break through here eventually.
Analysis: Logano’s Watkins Glen race effectively ended before it ever truly began, and it’s officially time to be concerned here. The Penske driver and three-time champ started sixth but finished 38th after mechanical trouble and a short day dropped him to the bottom of the results sheet and outside of Chase contention. The good news for Logano is Dover has historically been one of his steadiest tracks, even if he’s yet to win there. He owns 15 top 10s in 29 Cup starts there and a dependable 14.5 average finish. Logano badly needs momentum right now, and this track may offer a path back toward at least some relevance.
Analysis: Chastain showed early aggression at Watkins Glen alongside his Trackhouse teammates, briefly leading four laps before fading to 27th by the finish in a bit of a missed opportunity. The speed flashes remain present, but the consistency simply has not followed for the No. 1 team this season. Dover has produced mixed results for Chastain historically. He owns two top fives there, but the average finish remains a rough 22.6. Trackhouse Racing’s overall momentum from SVG’s win gives Chastain upside entering the weekend, but the execution level needs to improve quickly.
Analysis: Allmendinger, as expected, capitalized on another road-course opportunity at Watkins Glen, climbing from 12th to seventh while staying clean and disciplined all afternoon as he hit his marks. Dover, however, has traditionally been a far tougher challenge for the veteran. Allmendinger owns just three top 10s in 26 Cup starts there with a 23.2 average finish. The challenge this weekend becomes translating the recent momentum into a track type where outright speed and long-run balance matter far more than finesse alone.
It’s All-Star Race time, with the NASCAR Cup Series traveling to the “Monster Mile” to compete for $1 million at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The event will mark the first time the 1-mile Delaware venue has hosted All-Star festivities, with North Wilkesboro Speedway holding the honors from 2023-25. Christopher Bell is the defending All-Star Race winner, while Denny Hamlin is the most recent victor at Dover, doing so in double overtime during the points-paying contest there in July 2025.
Shane van Gisbergen, who won the most recent Cup contest at Watkins Glen International, will pilot the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and look to continue sharpening his oval-racing craft after a 30th-place finish here in 2025.
The twists and turns at Watkins Glen International weren’t constrained to the pavement at the New York State road course.
While Shane van Gisbergen rallied from 29 seconds back to win by 7.288 seconds, the rest of the field ebbed and flowed around him. See who left New York’s Finger Lakes region on an upswing — and who didn’t — after the Go Bowling at The Glen and ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
What happened: After a couple of poor finishes, Briscoe bounced back with a strong fourth-place finish Sunday at Watkins Glen, advancing from an already-solid top-10 starting spot. Briscoe’s qualifying pace is beginning to resemble his 2025 form again, with top-five time-trial efforts in four of his last five races. A fairly quiet day through the rolling hills of New York produced his fourth top five of the season.
What’s next: This is about the time of year Briscoe established himself as a title contender last year — coincidentally also finishing fourth in the 12th race of the season in 2025 (Kansas). What came next were three straight pole positions in points-paying races. We’ll see if that happens again once we get to Charlotte on Memorial Day Weekend, but first comes the All-Star Race at Dover, where he finished second last season and led 13 laps in his first appearance at the Delaware mile with JGR.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
2. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Started: 12th
Finished: 7th
What happened: Allmendinger notched his best finish of 2026 with an exceptional drive at one of his best race tracks. His day started quietly, but the 2014 Watkins Glen winner methodically remained in contention for a strong finish after staying out to score fifth-place stage points in Stage 1. He leaves Watkins Glen 20th in the Cup Series points standings, 48 points behind SVG for the final provisional berth in The Chase.
What’s next: Dover has been hit or miss for Allmendinger in recent years. He earned top-20 finishes in 2023 (18th) and 2024 (13th), but suffered mechanical DNFs in both 2022 and 2025. He’ll also attempt to return to the All-Star Race after missing the main event in 2025.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
3. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Started: 17th
Finished: 10th
What happened: Nemechek earned his first top 10 of 2026 with a 10th-place run at The Glen. That didn’t come without some on-track dustups, though. While battling for 17th, Nemechek contacted Bubba Wallace heading into Turn 1 with 14 laps remaining, spinning Wallace into a 29th-place finish while Nemechek rallied up the leaderboard for his season-best finish. The results have been consistent for JHN as of late, stringing together finishes of 22nd (Kansas), 22nd (Talladega) and 21st (Texas) before The Glen, and Texas likely would’ve ended better if not for late contact with Kyle Busch.
What’s next: Nemechek’s consistency extends to Dover, where he’s placed 20th, 20th and 21st in his last three starts at the Monster Mile. To extend that streak — albeit not in a points race this time around — Nemechek will have to advance to the main event of the All-Star Race, which he did for the first time last year at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 11th
Finished: 28th
What happened: The hot streak had to come to an end at some point, right? NASCAR’s newest winner had his six-race stretch of top 20s snapped at Watkins Glen, where he finished outside the top 25 for just the second time all season, capped by a final-lap incident. Road courses haven’t been his friend this year, as emphasized by his worst finish of the season at Circuit of The Americas (31st) back in March. Turns out his best day in New York happened long before he made it to the track.
What’s next: Two starts at Dover have not boded well for Hocevar, with a 22nd-place finish, three laps down, in 2024 and a 35th-place DNF last year. The good news: He’s locked into the All-Star Race for the first time in his career thanks to his Talladega victory, so he’ll have better memories ahead in the First State.
Michael Deisbeck | NASCAR Digital Media
2. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 8th
Finished: 21st
What happened: A rough patch for the No. 20 team continued Sunday as Bell fell outside the top 10 for the sixth time in the last seven races. Bell also exchanged words with Bubba Wallace after Sunday’s race, a moment captured by cameras at Watkins Glen.
What’s next: Bell is the defending All-Star Race winner, but that came at North Wilkesboro. Dover has been hit or miss for the No. 20 bunch, with top 10s in 2022 and 2023 but a DNF in 2024 and two spins from the front of the field in last year’s contest.
Started: Kyle Larson, 23rd; Chase Elliott, 27th; Alex Bowman, 28th; William Byron, 13th.
Finished: Kyle Larson, 23rd; Chase Elliott, 24th; Alex Bowman, 25th; William Byron, 36th.
What happened: Hendrick Motorsports struggled as a whole this weekend at Watkins Glen, never establishing itself as a true threat to Shane van Gisbergen. In fact, most of the Chevrolet teams — like Trackhouse Racing and Spire Motorsports — managed to outperform Hendrick, Chevrolet’s typical standard bearer. Byron got the worst of it despite showing perhaps the organization’s best speed throughout the weekend. His No. 24 Chevrolet was sent spinning in the inner loop in the midfield and was struck by another car, breaking a toe link and plummeting Byron to a 36th-place finish, three laps down.
What’s next: Hendrick cars have typically been great at Dover, and they’ll hope to show that again with their 2026 Chevrolet body this weekend. Chase Elliott is a two-time winner at the Monster Mile, while Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman each have one apiece. In fact, this is one of Bowman’s best tracks on the circuit, notching one win and six top fives and seven top 10s in his last eight Dover starts. A win for any of these four drivers Sunday would net them the $1 million prize.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will continue its 2026 campaign with a Delaware date at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The event will be the ninth points-paying race of the 2026 Truck Series season. The circuit is making its first appearance at the “Monster Mile” since the 2020 campaign.
Three women — Natalie Decker in the No. 22 Team Reaume Ford, Toni Breidinger in the No. 27 Rackley WAR Chevrolet and Dystany Spurlock in the No. 69 MBM Motorsports Ford — are slated to race this weekend. Four NASCAR Cup Series regulars in Kyle Busch (No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet), Ross Chastain (No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet), Christopher Bell (No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota) and Carson Hocevar (No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) will also compete.
Thirty-six race trucks are entered into this weekend’s event.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series transitions from the road-course confines of Watkins Glen International to the 1-mile concrete venue of Dover Motor Speedway for a race on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The event will be the 14th points-paying race of the 2026 O’Reilly campaign.
NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain will drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The contest will be Chastain’s fifth in O’Reilly this season and the second as pilot of the No. 9 Chevy; Chastain wheeled the machine to a 14th-place result at Darlington Raceway in March.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Shane van Gisbergen celebrated his 37th birthday on the eve of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series showdown at Watkins Glen International, and the occasion came with a prerequisite dose of razzing. Though he’s still relatively new to stock-car racing’s top division in just his second full Cup season, SVG slots into an age bracket reserved for veterans — a phase that can sometimes mean a dulling of otherwise sharp instincts or the “better with age” savvy that still schools the younger generation on how it’s done.
On Sunday, van Gisbergen left no doubt about which veteran driver category applies to him.
“My mates were all giving me (expletive) yesterday about how I’m getting too old for my birthday,” van Gisbergen said. “You know, I don’t feel old. I felt like that’s the best I’ve driven. It was pretty cool.”
A sterling drive from a staggering deficit wrapped up another Shane van Gisbergen masterclass in his second consecutive Watkins Glen triumph, providing his Trackhouse Racing team with a much-needed jolt to its 2026 campaign. Aided by fresher tires at the end and a strategy that positioned him on full attack for the home stretch, SVG overcame a 29.2-second gap with 24 laps remaining, regained command in the 93rd of 100 laps and powered away to a 7.288-second margin of victory — fourth-largest in the track’s NASCAR history.
Sunday marked the latest chapter in a meteoric rise for the New Zealand import, whose road-racing acumen has resulted in seven Cup Series wins in just 14 road-course starts. His victorious Cup debut nearly three years ago at the first Chicago Street Race looks less and less like a surprise now, given how his Australian Supercar skill has translated to the NASCAR world.
Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said he was stopped on pit road post-race by distant Watkins Glen runner-up Michael McDowell, who cracked that he would have roughly three more Cup Series wins on his resume if Marks hadn’t brought SVG stateside. Marks, who had respectable road-racing chops during his own driving days, says he still marvels at what he’s wrought, but also that van Gisbergen’s performance benchmark remains such a high bar to clear.
“He still surprises me, yes,” Marks said during a break in Victory Lane photos, “and the reason is that after his maybe third win on the road courses, I was like, all right, so competitive response is going to start creeping in here, because everybody can see the data, everybody can study what he’s doing, but they haven’t closed the gap on it, which is just truly, truly remarkable. And I’ve had the pleasure in my career to be teammates with some incredible drivers back in the sports car days, Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, some of these amazing drivers, AJ Allmendinger, and when I’m watching what he’s doing, there’s a touch to it and a style and an elegance to it that is just so unique and so special. And I’ll say it again, I’m just really glad he’s in a Trackhouse car.”
Van Gisbergen led 74 of the 100 laps, but his dominance had some crept-in doubt after a pivotal shake-up in the final stage. When a caution flag waved on Lap 60, the yellow split the field on strategy, with nine lead-lap cars staying out and the rest hitting pit road for what they hoped would be a final stop. The teams that chose to pit were at the edge of their fuel window, and their drivers would need to stretch their mileage to make it to the end.
When the majority of the field zigged in his rearview mirror, SVG cursed over the No. 97 team radio, knowing he’d have to stop again and feeling his shot to win may have fizzled. But crew chief Stephen Doran reassured him that his peers’ pace would slow, and that fresher tires and no fuel concerns would sustain him. Even then, Doran had reservations.
“There were about 10 laps where I was a little nervous. Like, are we going to get there?” Doran said. “But then they started to fade, having to save, their tires were going away. With 15 to go, I felt pretty good about where we were at, but when he got back out there, we just told him go like hell, you’re going to have to pass all these guys.”
Those worries were shared down in the No. 97 team’s pit box.
“Man, to be honest with you, when Stephen made the call … obviously I don’t get paid to be a crew chief to make those calls, but as a pit crew guy, I’m like, ‘Man, was that the right decision?'” said No. 97 jackman Marshall McFadden, carrying an empty bottle of the champagne that had soaked his fire suit moments earlier. “But after about 10 laps in and I saw SVG slice through the field, I was like, we’re gonna be all right. But if you’re going to draw it up, I think that’s the way to draw it up right there. To watch him just drive through the field, I’m talking about 18 spots, it was just beautiful to see, bro. That’s beautiful to see.”
The beauty eventually had its bloom. As his rivals raced onward with a defensive stance, van Gisbergen’s pace picked up on offense and his methodical path up the leaderboard was cast. Shortly after his final stop on Lap 76, SVG’s gap seemed insurmountable. On the clock, the deficit to then-leader Ty Gibbs was nearly half a minute. In physical distance, Gibbs was rounding the Turn 5 carousel on the other end of the property as SVG completed the 90-degree Turn 1.
The gap shrank in big chunks, and SVG’s focus narrowed. When his crew gave him updates on his running position, van Gisbergen dismissed it, saying all he needed to know was how many laps were left and how many seconds separated him from the lead. “He’s made it pretty clear, especially at these tracks, he likes to be on offense,” Doran said, “so we put him there.” Van Gisbergen reacted accordingly, turning that initial fear into a determined drive to the finish.
“That’s the best feeling you can get when you have a tire advantage and an awesome car. Like, I was just carving everyone up,” van Gisbergen said. “Some people were nice and laying over, which is cool. The people that didn’t, you had to put good moves on. Yeah, that’s the most fun. Then, especially when the gap started getting less seconds than how many laps to go, I sort of knew it was going to happen at that point. Yeah, that’s one of the best moments you can have as a driver.”
The victory was easily the best moment in what’s been a challenging-at-best season for Trackhouse, which had struggled for speed in the year’s first 11 races. Though the shift to The Chase postseason format this year means that SVG’s win doesn’t include an automatic playoff berth, the correlating three-spot bump in the Cup Series standings handed him the 16th and final spot on the provisional grid.
Marks was quick to acknowledge that more headway is needed. Teammate Ross Chastain rests 19th in the Cup Series points, and rookie Connor Zilisch sits 32nd after his bid for a career-first top five soured in Sunday’s late going. Van Gisbergen’s adaptation to oval-track racing also continues to be a work in progress, and while Sunday’s showing provides a morale boost, Marks has his eyes trained on long-term improvement relative to the rest of the field.
“It’s kind of like turning a Titanic. I mean, it’s one race at a time,” Marks said. “There’s not gonna be one event. This win today doesn’t change anything. We’ve got to go to Dover next week, and we’ve got to maximize the downforce and the setup, and we’ve got to do the same at Charlotte, the same at Nashville. So it’s going to make for some nice, good mood in the shop this week, but it’s right back to work tomorrow.”
Before that work was set to resume, the No. 97 group soaked up every bit of the season’s top highlight in an especially jubilant Victory Lane early Sunday evening. Their driver was one year older and battle-proven better, and the organization reaped what it hopes will be a lasting benefit.
“I think it’s everything for Trackhouse, you know. I just think it’s a jump-start,” McFadden said. “It’s been some tough outings, but I think this will give us a little life, man. It’s that jump-start we needed.”
Three NASCAR Cup Series teams are set to participate in a two-day Goodyear tire test this week at Iowa Speedway.
The routine test is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday as the 0.875-mile track prepares for a tripleheader weekend of racing Aug. 7-9, with the Cup Series sharing the card with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the ARCA Menards Series. The three-day set will be capped by the Cup Series’ Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday, Aug. 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The three drivers and teams — one from each manufacturer — scheduled to participate:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Reddick, the Cup Series points leader and a five-time winner already this season, said Saturday at Watkins Glen International that he would shift from his primary focus on a busy May slate of races to Iowa testing upon arrival.
“From my standpoint, I pretty much just wait till I get there to start figuring out what it’s going to be like,” Reddick said. “I don’t really know what kind of lineup of tires they have or anything of that nature, but certainly I’ll run the tires, give my feedback and hopefully they find a combination they like that continues to follow that trend of being softer and wearing out more and having more degradation.”
This summer’s 350-lap event will be Iowa Speedway’s third NASCAR premier series race. Ryan Blaney (2024) and William Byron (2025) are past winners.
The moment is almost here! The 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race will take place at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and the opportunity to vote one driver into the contest is still available.
As of May 11, the top five vote-getters in alphabetical order are as follows: Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece and Connor Zilisch.
The voting period closes on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET, so put on your voting cap and get to the ballots before the polls close. The fan vote winner will be revealed on Sunday before the engines fire for the main event.
Fans can vote up to five times per day, per unique email address. NASCAR Fan Rewards members will receive a one-time 25-point bonus for their first vote.
Notable past winners of the fan vote include Ken Schrader, who was first to receive the honor in 2004. Additional winners include Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2011), Danica Patrick (2013, ’15) and Clint Bowyer (2020). Noah Gragson has won the award each of the last three seasons (2023-25). Kasey Kahne (2008) currently stands as the sole fan vote winner to win the All-Star Race.
