The NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series head north to Watkins Glen International for a tripleheader weekend of road-course racing. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
Race day: Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: Seven sets (five new race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying). Teams will also have one set for practice and six sets of wet-weather tires, if needed.
Race day: Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: Six sets (three new race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying). Teams will also have two sets for practice and four sets of wet-weather tires, if needed.
Race day: Friday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: Five sets (three race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying). Teams will also have one set for practice and four sets of wet-weather tires, if needed.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — As cautions bred cautions during the closing laps of Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Watkins Glen International, Corey Heim motored through late-race chaos to retake the lead and win his series-best sixth race of the 2025 season.
But it didn’t come without a veteran challenge in the closing moments of the 81-lapper, a race extended with three overtimes. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Daniel Hemric used a little strategy — and some instinct — to wheel his No. 19 Chevrolet to runner-up at the 2.45-mile facility, earning his best finish since Texas Motor Speedway in May.
In a race when Hemric thought he didn’t have his best stuff, he described the finish as ‘twofold,’ still nearly knocking off the championship favorite in the waning moments at The Glen.
“I don’t think we had the best truck, but also, I think I had enough advantage to be equal with him at the end,” Hemric explained post-race. “Right now, it’s one that got away, but hindsight being 20/20, I mean, we came a long way from where we were sitting about 10 laps into Stage 1. Sometimes you just got to count your blessings.”
Knowing Hemric was struggling in the early moments of Friday’s race, the penultimate event of the regular season, crew chief Kevin Bellicourt made a bold call. Hemric, along with two playoff hopefuls in Ben Rhodes and Gio Ruggiero, stayed out during a Lap 11 caution, a call that helped ultimately put the No. 19 in contention down the stretch. He restarted out front and finished eighth in the opening stage.
Hemric later pitted in Stage 2, and similarly, got track position later in the second segment to bank more points after a Jack Wood caution shaped up a one-lap dash to the stage break. But heading through the esses, Hemric briefly lost fuel pressure — an issue that plagued several trucks through the afternoon — and dropped back to 14th at the green-checkered flag.
Still, the original strategy put the No. 19 team in prime position for the final stage.
“These guys were having fuel issues as we got lower on fuel — not crazy low on fuel — but lower,” Hemric said. “We were having issues before we were getting as low as we thought, and we tried to just buy some insurance. So we were, I think, one of the first ones. Like me and the 17 [Ruggiero] were the first ones to pit, and ultimately, that was the deciding factor. Gives us a shot at the end.
“Just hats off to Kevin Bellicourt, man. He just made a great call [to head to] pit road right then and there, and that ultimately set us in a position where we had options for the rest of the day.”
The final stage ran caution free until 11 laps remained in regulation. But that’s when chaos reigned in the hazy Central New York air.
Hemric avoided several incidents as the laps ticked down — two of which involved teammate Connor Mosack — and saved enough fuel to pilot ahead to outside front row for the second overtime restart. Hemric missed on his opportunity to pounce, but a second consecutive caution in the bus stop set up a final chance for the veteran.
Heim again fired ahead to the lead, but he didn’t get far. Hemric stayed attached to the bumper of the No. 11 Toyota on the final lap and carried momentum into Turn 6, but diving to the inside, he couldn’t make it stick. The two darted toward Turn 7 nearly even with the checkered flag in sight, but Hemric had to file back in line and settle for second at The Glen.
“I learned something off the first [restart] and tried to apply it for the second one. I felt like it was better and I had a better chance at it,” Hemric explained. “I liked my chances and my leverage that I had into [Turn] 1. The 11 had to make a big block on me down the front straightaway and let me get to where I wanted to be in 1. I thought I had him where I wanted to be, but man, he just had a lot of potential starting in the esses, and it was all I could do not to drive into his door.
“I drove in to get close to him [in Turn 6 on the final lap], and he had a little bit of a wheel hop of brake lock and it let me get to his left side, and I thought we were gonna race it out through [Turn 7], and honestly, I just felt like I undervalued how much potential he still had left in his truck with as old as tires that he had and the amount of speed he carried on entry. He just cleared me and drove off to the checkered flag.”
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
As Heim tried to manipulate the overtime restarts, Hemric kept it as clean as possible racing for the win. The Tricon Garage driver admitted he found himself in an awkward position on the final re-fire in Turn 1 and respected that Hemric refused to use the bumper in the closing corners.
“I was in a really bad aero spot, and really got a lot of respect for him for not sticking it through there and not wiping me out because he certainly could have,” Heim said after the race. “Daniel’s always been a really clean racer and I enjoy racing around him. So props to him for that.
“To have a guy like that to race around and know that you can race hard with him and he’s not going to put yourself, put himself in a bad spot … I think that’s a really gratifying feeling as a racer and being around a guy that does it the right way, I think that’s really cool.”
Hemric, Heim and company wrap up the 2025 regular season on Friday with a trip to Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio),
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship leader Corey Heim scored his fourth consecutive road-course victory — the sixth of his career — in a dramatic triple overtime finish as nightfall approached in Friday’s Mission 176 at The Glen at the historic Watkins Glen International.
The 23-year-old Georgia native took the lead on a restart on the first overtime, then held position in his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota with a pair of masterful restarts on the second and third overtime periods, ultimately holding off former Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric and rookie Gio Ruggiero by 0.202 seconds.
It was Heim’s 17th series win, and he became the youngest driver in series history to claim that total. This was the second time this season he’s won from pole position.
The race on the 2.45-mile historic venue in Upstate New York was relatively calm and clean early on, with only a single extra caution in addition to the first two stage breaks. But a steady barrage of incidents forced six more caution periods and the three overtimes — the race only finishing within a couple of minutes of when NASCAR had pre-determined to call it official because of darkness.
Heim got the jump on the final overtime, but then slowed slightly and wiggled the front end of his Toyota in an effort to get the fuel pick-up. It did the trick, and he was able to go full throttle again, fending off Hemric in the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevy and 19-year-old Ruggiero in the No. 17 Tricon Garage Toyota.
“Just never give up,” said Heim, who led a race-high 44 laps but had to rally from 11th place on a Lap 43 restart. “I got behind in that last stage and was scratching and clawing, trying to get back through the field.
“I had my brakes pretty much go out on me completely on that long green-flag run, was beating them up trying to get back through the field — blew the bus stop chicane between turns four and five — and made a lot of mistakes myself. I’ve had a lot of them get away from us this year by cautions or whatever else, finally had one go our way.”
For much of the final regularly scheduled laps, it looked like Cup Series regular Christopher Bell may pull off an emotional victory. The 2017 Truck Series champ was piloting the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota for the team’s owner-driver, Stewart Friesen, who suffered serious injuries in a dirt modified race crash a week ago.
Bell — gambling on a late-race gas-saving strategy — was leading with one lap to go in regulation Friday when a caution came out for a multitruck accident involving former series champion Ben Rhodes. But the multiple overtimes forced Bell to pit for fuel. His rally forward to a fourth-place finish was impressive.
Tyler Ankrum, Xfinity Series regular Sammy Smith, Ty Majeski, Xfinity Series championship leader Connor Zilisch, Matt Mills and Layne Riggs rounded out the top 10.
Rhodes’ accident was indicative of an impactful day in deciding the championship field, with only one more regular-season race now remaining to set the 10-driver field. Friesen had claimed one of the automatic playoff berths, with a win at Michigan International earlier this season, but the serious injuries he suffered last week and missing Friday’s race have potentially opened an extra driver playoff position.
Before the green flag, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia held a 16-point advantage over Rhodes for the 10th and final points transfer position.
Majeski finished seventh on Friday. Garcia was 15th, and the two-time series champ Rhodes ended up 26th despite claiming the win in Stage 2. Garcia now takes a slim 11-point advantage over Rhodes and 21 points over Ruggiero into the final regular-season race next Saturday night at Richmond.
Friesen can request a medical waiver, and if NASCAR grants it, he would remain in the playoffs — changing the playoff picture yet again.
The Craftsman Truck Series moves to the Richmond Raceway three-quarter miler for next Friday’s regular-season finale, the eero 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Majeski is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Heim as the race winner.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the results of Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Watkins Glen International.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Stewart Friesen may not have been at Watkins Glen International Friday, but he was still helping his team from afar.
Sidelined after a savage dirt modified crash in Quebec on July 28 that left the 42-year-old with a shattered pelvis, compound fracture to his right leg, fractured C7 vertebra and fractured left hip, Friesen was texting with his Halmar Friesen Racing crew Friday as the team’s Nos. 52 and 62 Toyotas prepared for the group’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race without Friesen.
NASCAR Cup Series regular Christopher Bell filled in for Friesen at the 2.45-mile road course, piloting Friesen’s flagship No. 52 Toyota to a fourth-place finish in the Mission 176 at The Glen. Bell, the 2017 Truck Series champion, had previously discussed opportunities to drive a second HFR truck for the organization this season, but those discussions never came to fruition. With Friesen out, the timing aligned for Bell to climb behind the wheel, albeit in an unfortunate circumstance. Bell wanted to make Friesen and crew chief Jimmy Villeneuve proud Friday. A top-five effort surely did the job.
“I had a ton of fun, but I’m sure it looked very weird seeing that 52 truck out there without Stewart in it,” Bell said. “Just happy to give them a good run and get a good finish out of it. They told me at one time, checkers or wreckers. And I’m like, yeah, well, I want to make sure that I get it to the checkered flag and walked out of here with a fourth-place finish after all the chaos.”
Bell did his best to make Friesen proud in qualifying, coming up just 0.192 seconds short of Corey Heim’s pole-setting time. Villeneuve, who was Bell’s truck chief during their 2017 title run, also serves as the general manager of Halmar Friesen Racing and told NASCAR.com that Friesen was texting the team all afternoon.
“Stew is doing good, and I talked to him yesterday,” Villeneuve said. “He’s in good spirits. He’s been plugged in all day. Luckily, our sport is broader than just being at the race track. He is putting input, helping us adjust the truck and giving the driver feedback from what he has felt in the past. So we’re very lucky to have a guy like him still clicked in and helping us.
“He is a huge, huge factor of this race team and will be till he comes back, and then he’ll be a bigger factor because then he’s back in the seat.”
Zach Sturniolo | NASAR Digital Media
In an Aug. 5 press release, the team announced Kaden Honeycutt would replace Friesen “for the balance of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season,” starting next week at Richmond Raceway. However, Villeneuve pulled the reins back on those plans a tad on Friday afternoon.
“Kaden is going to fill in for Richmond, and then after that’s a little TBD to see where Stewart’s at and all that, and see where his health is at,” Villeneuve said.
Now that Friesen officially missed Friday’s race at Watkins Glen, he may apply for a waiver to remain playoff eligible, thanks to his June 7 win at Michigan International Speedway. Ready as needed, Honeycutt is eager to get the opportunity to work with the Halmar Friesen Racing team.
“The opportunity is definitely to go win races for sure, right?” Honeycutt told NASCAR.com.” That’s all that group wants to do, and win a title and Owner’s Championship. So that’s what I’m going to try to deliver for them. But the way it came about was in the worst way possible, with Stewart getting hurt. And that’s his priority is to get better first. And just the chance from Stewart and Mrs. (Jessica) Friesen and Chris Larsen (team co-owner and CEO of Halmar International) for even thinking about me to fill in the rest of the year for them and do a good job. I can’t thank them enough for even thinking of me.”
Honeycutt entered Friday’s race sixth in the driver standings and had been competing full-time for Niece Motorsports in its No. 45 Chevrolet. However, the team announced Aug. 4 it was parting ways with Honeycutt immediately due to a new deal Honeycutt signed for 2026 that will move him to a new team and manufacturer.
Cody Efaw, general manager of Niece Motorsports, told NASCAR.com Friday he viewed the rest of the 2025 season as a “lame-duck term” if Honeycutt remained with the team since he would lose access to much of Chevrolet’s and Josh Wise’s driver training programs.
“There’s a lot of information goes into that that he would get turned off to,” Efaw said. “Another large contributing factor too is the fact that Precision Vehicle Logistics (and) DQS Solutions and Staffing, they’re huge partners of ours. Their largest customer is General Motors. So I have a hard time continuing to have them partner and spend money because we funded and found money for Kaden to race ever since he’s been in Niece. So I have a hard time having them spend money towards a driver that’s going to help Toyota. That’s where he’s headed.
“And I like Kaden. Me and Kaden rode on a plane up here together and sat beside each other and talked, and we have no bad blood. But he’s going to be in meetings at Toyota, right? Even if he’s driving here, they’re going to be talking. They already have been. That’s how they got a deal done. So it’s not that I think he’d give information, but we’d have to shut all that off to protect ourselves. So therefore, I don’t think that running for a championship is — I don’t say it’s impossible, but this stuff’s so hard at that level.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Honeycutt, who drove the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet at Watkins Glen and finished 34th due to mechanical issues, told NASCAR.com before Friday’s race that he was “definitely shocked” by the team’s decision to part ways so abruptly and that he didn’t consider this outcome when making his plans for the 2026 campaign. He informed the team of his plans so Niece could prepare to find someone to fill the seat in his absence. That absence, instead, was fairly instant. But Honeycutt confirmed all is good between him and his former team manager.
“We’re all good. We still talk,” Honeycutt said. “Like I said, I still love that crew over there. They did nothing but great things for me. They worked really hard for me, and they’re the first team that gave me a chance to run a full season and put me in the position where I’m at now. So yeah, definitely all good between both of us.”
In fact, Efaw said he was the one who reached out to Toyota Racing Development’s Slugger Labbe to initiate Honeycutt’s opportunity to get behind the wheel of the No. 52 truck in place of Friesen. Following Friday’s race, Honeycutt sits eighth in the regular-season driver standings.
Whether NASCAR officials grant Friesen a playoff waiver or not, the No. 52 Toyota will remain eligible for the owners’ championship in the Truck Series this season so long as it attempts each of the remaining races on the schedule. Honeycutt remains in position to contend for the drivers’ championship and would remain in that position so long as he attempts each race as well. At Niece, the No. 45 truck remains eligible for the owners’ title fight as well, with Connor Zilisch piloting the vehicle on Friday at Watkins Glen and Bayley Currey getting behind the wheel for the rest of the season.
“We’ve got Bayley in-house. (Honeycutt’s) got the 52. We still can run for an owner’s championship. That’s important to us,” Efaw said. “He can still run for a driver’s championship with a team that can run for an owner’s championship. In my eyes, everyone’s happy. Am I wrong? It don’t affect anyone’s finances. It ain’t brilliant; it’s just simple.”
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — On Friday at Watkins Glen International, Austin Hill walked back into the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage for the first time since officials suspended him for what they deemed an intentional wreck of Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26.
Hill, however, is holding his ground, maintaining that the contact with Almirola’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was unintentional.
“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose,” Hill told NASCAR.com Friday afternoon. “So, I can at least take that with me.”
With eight laps remaining at Indianapolis, Almirola packed air on Hill, moving the No. 21 Chevrolet up the race track. Hill made a stellar save and then turned left entering Turn 4. With the internal movement in the cockpit, in addition to slight contact from behind with Sheldon Creed, Hill connected with Almirola.
Following the incident, NASCAR officials held Hill for five laps for reckless driving. The Georgia native voiced his displeasure on the radio, for which he later apologized in a long chat with series director Eric Peterson. He also called Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition.
“From my standpoint, it was a full racing incident, full racing deal,” Hill said. “I pleaded my case to NASCAR and everyone. I told [Peterson] everything that went down, showed him the SMT data, showed him that [Creed] and I were together before making contact with [Almirola].
“From my standpoint, it was fully unintentional. It wasn’t one of those lose your mind moments and turn to the left. I feel like I’m a smarter racer than that. If I was mad about him getting into the back of me, I would have waited until Turn 1 and shipped him like he shipped me in Turn 3. That would have been it. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”
In Hill’s mind, if he meant to wreck Almirola, he would have immediately owned up to it. He reflected back on an incident involving Cole Custer last spring at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the No. 00 Ford was turned into the inside wall after previous contact cut down Hill’s right-front tire. Hill had a conversation with then-series director Wayne Auton, admitting that he was guilty and that he would accept any penalties coming his way. Hill was fined $25,000 and docked 25 points for the incident.
To Hill, Indianapolis was another scenario entirely.
“This deal was a totally different deal,” Hill said. “I haven’t admitted to any of it, for one. I know for a fact that if I turned [Almirola] on purpose, I would have either said it on the radio or it would have come out by now that, ‘Yeah, I right-rear hooked the 19 on purpose because he made me mad.’ That just wasn’t the case.”
Throughout his career, Hill has made a name for himself as a hard-nosed racer who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. Though he was suspended for the first time in his career, Hill says it won’t change his competitive racing nature.
Over the last two weeks, Hill and Almirola have yet to speak. Hill would like to talk in person “because he needs to understand where I was coming from.”
“I’m not sure what kind of issue he possibly has with me, but in his shoes, he plays both sides, and I just don’t do that,” Hill said. “You get what you get with me, and you either like it or you don’t.”
The lone regret Hill has from Indianapolis is the way he conducted himself over the in-car radio. To Hill, one area he believes he can improve is managing his emotions.
“I told [NASCAR] I can’t go back and change it, all I can do is try to be a better person moving forward,” Hill said. “All of those conversations have been great. Conversations that I’ve had with my sponsors, partners have been good, but there are some things that they would like to see differently from me moving forward. I totally understand, and it’s something where I can put cussing on the radio on my shoulders and say that I need to do better and be a better person going forward.
“You don’t really know who is listening in, and when you’re in the heat of the moment, there could be a 10-year-old kid that looks up to you and is listening to you on the radio each week, and you go out and blast something like that on the radio. That’s not something that you should be doing.”
As far as Hill knows, the No. 21 team has had his back, believing him when he says the contact was not intentional. They weren’t pleased, however, that 21 coveted playoff points were taken away. Naturally, advancing throughout the playoffs will be an uphill battle, entering as one of the final seeds. Hill was granted a playoff waiver earlier this week.
Hill added that throughout the race week, he can already see a difference in the way the No. 21 team is prepping for upcoming races. His peers call him “110” for always giving 110% on the race track, so as Hill noted, it’s been bumped to “120.”
The first goal for Hill will be Watkins Glen on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he will aim to win a road-course race after four top-five finishes in the last five road-course events.
“The way that I’m trying to look at it on that side of things is, I feel like if I can’t overcome 21 points then I probably shouldn’t be the Xfinity Series champion this year,” Hill said. “I’m going to put those 21 points on my shoulders and have to dig deep when the playoffs start and either win a race or run inside the top three each and every race and hope that other guys have some issues.”
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers will pit this weekend at Watkins Glen International.
NASCAR Cup Series
Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports A[[).
CONCORD, N.C. — What began as a one-off Project 91 race in 2023, continued as a successful Xfinity Series campaign in 2024 and turned into a record-breaking NASCAR Cup Series run in 2025, will continue for years to come as Shane van Gisbergen and Trackhouse Racing announced a multiyear contract extension Friday.
Van Gisbergen became the winningest foreign-born driver in NASCAR history this year when the Auckland, New Zealand, native won three Cup Series races, pushing his total to four victories in 37 career races.
Friday’s agreement will keep the former V8 Supercars driver at Trackhouse Racing.
“I feel like Trackhouse Racing is my home,” said the 36-year-old Van Gisbergen.
“Trackhouse gave me the opportunity to race at Chicago in 2023. That was just a one-race deal, and everything that has happened since then is because of the chance Justin [Marks, Trackhouse founder and owner] took on me. The men and women at Trackhouse have helped me feel at home in this new challenge, and I’ve been loving every minute of it. We still have a lot of work to do, but I couldn’t be happier.”
Marks created Project 91 in 2022 to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen raced for Project 91 in 2022 at Watkins Glen International and in 2023 at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
Van Gisbergen, though popular around the world, was little known to most of the NASCAR audience despite a resume that includes V8 Supercars Championships in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 80 wins and 48 pole positions, making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The NASCAR world took notice at the Chicago Street Race in 2023 when he led nine laps and won the race by 1.259 seconds in overtime. Van Gisbergen became one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start.
After signing a driver development contract with Trackhouse Racing, Van Gisbergen raced full-time with Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2024, winning at Portland International Raceway, Sonoma Raceway and the Chicago Street Race. He also raced in 12 Cup Series races in 2024.
Trackhouse expanded to a third car in 2025, naming van Gisbergen the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet. In his first full season in the Cup Series, he’s won the inaugural Mexico City race, the Chicago Street Race and at Sonoma. He also owns an Xfinity Series victory at the Chicago Street Race, driving for JR Motorsports.
“We are getting to watch one of the superstars of racing,” Marks said. “What we are asking him to do carries a high degree of difficulty. He’s moved to the other side of the world, learned a new form of racing and at times dominated the competition. He’s one of the greatest.”
Van Gisbergen is rewriting the NASCAR record books. He is:
• Tied for most wins in a rookie season.
• Fastest to three wins in the Modern Era.
• Tied three consecutive road-course wins from pole.
• The most wins for a foreign-born driver in Cup Series history.
• First New Zealander to win a Cup Series race.
As the latest beleaguered driver to become a byproduct in Carson Hocevar’s forceful bid for stardom, Zane Smith has a unique perspective of a sizzling star on the rise.
Nearly two years ago, it was Smith — not Hocevar — who was the young driver being handed the keys to a Cup Series ride at Spire Motorsports and anointed as a NASCAR prodigy.
The circumstances were different — Smith was farmed out to Spire after signing a new contract with Trackhouse Racing, which had yet to expand to three Cup cars. But in a Sept. 16, 2023, news conference at Bristol Motor Speedway, Smith was hailed as the can’t-miss prospect with a blindingly bright future.
“There was a short list of names, and Zane was at the top of that list the whole time,” Trackhouse founder Justin Marks said. “Huge fan of him, what he’s accomplished, his talent and his grind.”
Only 11 months later, Trackhouse announced a split with Smith after the nine-time winner and 2022 champion in the Craftsman Truck Series struggled mightily during his first full year in Cup (average finish of 23.2). Hocevar, who also was promoted to Cup after four Truck victories, provided an inconvenient and telling benchmark.
In their rookie seasons as Spire teammates, Smith, 26, finished nine spots behind Hocevar, 23, in the 2024 points standings.
That’s the historical kindling for a feud that sparked at Iowa Speedway, where Hocevar inadvertently spun Smith after a restart. After falling several laps down for repairs, Smith tried unsuccessfully to return the favor with his No. 38 Ford.
Hocevar poked fun in a social media post after finishing eighth, savagely including the in-car video of Smith’s failed attempt at side-swiping the No. 77 Chevrolet. Even more dismissively, Hocevar (who was confronted by Smith’s crew chief after the Iowa race) posted a photo of the “Take a number” machine ubiquitous at supermarket deli counters.
His former teammate was just another dissatisfied customer who dared to cross paths with Hocevar, who has ruffled the feathers of many veterans while running up front weekly.
If that sounds like bulletin-board material for Smith and his team, there will be no shortage of motivation at Watkins Glen International (incidentally, Hocevar and Smith both finished in the top five there last year).
A weekend at the New York road course will offer constant reminders for Smith of how fleeting life can be in the Cup Series.
Shane van Gisbergen, who became Trackhouse’s third full-time Cup driver this season and essentially sealed Smith being squeezed out of the team’s plans, will try to win his fourth consecutive race on a street or road course. Connor Zilisch, the 19-year-old phenom who is destined to replace Daniel Suárez at Trackhouse in Cup next year, will race in NASCAR’s top three national series at The Glen.
It didn’t work out quite that way for Smith, who landed at Front Row Motorsports for the 2025 season with the scars from “an ugly year” that he believes made him stronger.
“There was a lot of unknowns and uncertainty and just kind of a bad taste, but with that, you move forward,” he said recently about the 2024 season. “I’m trying to do better at living in the now and appreciating what I’ve got. Hopefully, I have a long future racing on Sundays, but nothing is ever promised in motorsports.”
While three races remain before the 16-driver Cup Series playoff field locks before the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Sunday’s affair at Watkins Glen International (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) is the likeliest spot for Michael McDowell or AJ Allmendinger to play spoiler and flip the postseason picture on its head.
Playoff Probabilities provided by Racing Insights (entering Watkins Glen)
The pair of road-course ringers have been hit-or-miss on the left and right-turn circuits this season. Allmendinger has struggled in particular, with just one top 10 coming at Chicago.
McDowell put together top-five runs in Mexico City and Sonoma Raceway and had the dominant car at Chicago before a mechanical failure parachuted the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team to a 32nd-place result.
The silver lining for Allmendinger and McDowell is that they both have success at The Glen. Allmendinger has a career average finish of 10.8 at the New York road course, which is his best among all active Cup tracks. He also scored his first career win at Watkins Glen in 2014. McDowell’s streak of luck at The Glen has all come in the Next Gen car, with two top 10s in the last three events.
Before the green flag drops Sunday, let’s take a closer look at the playoff bubble and see who is lined up to virtually lock themselves into the postseason and who could see their championship hopes crumble.
GREEN FLAG[Who’s in a great spot for Watkins Glen]
Sunday could easily be the day Tyler Reddick (98.70% playoff probability) finally hurdles the 2025 obstacle of not getting to Victory Lane. As long as the drivers mentioned above don’t steal the show at Watkins Glen, the No. 45 23XI Racing driver will go playoff dancing for a sixth consecutive season. Reddick owns three top 10s in four starts at The Glen, with a best finish of seventh in 2022. He’s also tied with Chris Buescher for most top 10s on road courses in the Next Gen car (15).
YELLOW FLAG [Who’s on the fringe for Watkins Glen]
Alex Bowman (88.4% playoff probability) dips here despite being on a pretty hot stretch. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver has finished 11th or better in seven of the last eight races, with three top fives for good measure. His average finish in that span (8.0) is second to teammate Chase Elliott (7.63), who has finished inside the top 20 in every race in 2025. While Bowman is one of the better road-course racers in the Cup field, he has a real struggle point at Watkins Glen, with no top 10s in eight starts and an average finish of just 21st. It’s one thing if Bowman falls to the 16th spot if a new winner emerges from outside the bubble. However, he can’t allow for either Buescher or Ryan Preece to chip away at his points cushion (plus-40 above Buescher entering Sunday) and will likely need to have a career-best day at The Glen to feel comfortable going to Richmond Raceway.
RED FLAG [Who I’m concerned about heading to Watkins Glen]
Because he’s the last driver currently in, it has to be Buescher. His playoff probability stands at just 52.13%, and he hasn’t helped his case much this summer, with just one top 10 in the last five races. Buescher’s knack for road courses did not come to fruition at Sonoma and Chicago as a mechanical issue stumped the RFK No. 17 team in the Windy City, and Buescher couldn’t make up any ground from the midpack in Wine Country.
However, Buescher is the defending winner at Watkins Glen, getting the best of Shane van Gisbergen out of the bus stop section to take his lone victory in 2024. Van Gisbergen will be the clear favorite to score his fourth victory of the season, but Buescher will be in the mix Sunday and for the rest of the regular season as he also owns victories at Richmond and Daytona International Speedway.
We’ve reached the point in the Cup Series schedule when a single victory can change the entire complexion of the season — both for the winning driver, and for every other name on the bubble with their eye on that ever-shifting elimination line.
After last Sunday’s race at Iowa, there are now just three dates left on the regular-season calendar: Watkins Glen (road course), Richmond (short track) and Daytona (superspeedway). Each has its own specialists — hello, SVG — and those who show up more at one track type than the others. But the common thread is must-win pressure, as a mere three playoff spots remain unfilled, and no one wants to leave their championship fate up to the point standings on the night of the final cutoff.
In other words, anybody who hasn’t won a race yet this year (and that’s all but 13 drivers) has their sights set on a checkered flag in these last three regular-season races. So let’s fire up our race forecast model — which uses rolling projected driver ratings by track type to simulate each race thousands of times — and track which currently winless drivers have the best chance to barge their way into the playoffs the not-so-easy way.
Because in roughly 70% of our simulations, at least one new winner emerged from below the playoff elimination line over the next three races — throwing the postseason picture we thought we knew into complete disarray.
Tyler Reddick (12.1% chance to win at least one remaining race)
Standings situation: 14th, +122 points to the elimination line
No driver can ever feel fully safe without grabbing a W to secure their playoff berth, but Reddick can sleep easier than others on the bubble. Not only does he have a healthy 122-point margin over No. 17 Ryan Preece in the standings if it comes to that, but he’s also going into a situation with as good a chance to win his way in as anyone. While he’s no Shane van Gisbergen, Reddick is among the best road racers in the sport, with an average Driver Rating of 92.7 (seventh-best) on those tracks this season, his fourth straight year with a rating above 90. Even with the spectre of SVG hanging over the field, The Glen is arguably Reddick’s best shot at the playoff-clinching win. If not, he heads to a short track — a type where he’s usually merely good, not great, though he has finished top 10 in consecutive races at Richmond. And finally, it might be down to rolling the dice at Daytona, where Reddick has either finished top five or outside the top 24 in all 12 races he’s run. (Talk about high variance!)
Alex Bowman (11.7% chance)
Standings situation: 15th, +63 points to the elimination line
It feels like the winning breakthrough is coming soon for Bowman, who’s finished 11th or better in seven of his past eight races, including three straight top 10s. And why not this week? Similar to Reddick, the driver of the No. 48 car is among the better road-course drivers in Cup, with the eighth-best average Driver Rating (86.4) on that type of circuit in 2025. That boosts his odds to win on Sunday — even though Watkins Glen hasn’t necessarily contributed as much to Bowman’s record in that regard as other tracks. If not, Bowman is merely OK at short tracks, though he is a former Richmond winner. And for whatever it’s worth, he is consistently competitive on drafting tracks, even if he’d prefer not to rely on that path to the playoffs. In roughly 30% of the simulations, Bowman gets at least two more top 10s, which would improve his chances to get in on points, but the win is a safer option.
Ty Gibbs (11.2% chance)
Standings situation: 19th, -87 points to the elimination line
Gibbs benefits from a couple of factors here. First, he’s been in his best form of the season recently — as evidenced by his win in the In-Season Challenge two weeks ago at Indianapolis. While merely average the past few weeks, Gibbs had a Driver Rating in the triple-digits four times in six races before that, after breaking that barrier only once in the preceding 15 races. Second, Gibbs is on the short list of drivers who could actually win over SVG at a road course; his average rating on the twisty tracks is 93.5 this season, fourth-best in Cup. Gibbs finished fifth at Watkins Glen two years ago, so this weekend will be his best shot at winning his way into the playoffs — otherwise, he’ll be relying on Richmond (where his record is nothing special) and Daytona (where his plate-racing skills are mediocre). Look for him to have it all ride on The Glen.
Chris Buescher (9.7% chance)
Standings situation: 16th, +23 points to the elimination line
Buescher is an interesting comparison for Gibbs, because the former is ahead of the latter in the standings (well ahead, in fact), but both are relying heavily on a road-course victory if they’re going to win their way into the playoffs instead of sweating out the bubble. As the defending winner here, Buescher can absolutely do it again — we’ve seen him do the incredible and pass SVG on the final lap at a road course, and he remains a solid road racer this season (even if his rating on those circuits is down to 10th-best in the series). But Buescher is not as strong on short tracks and superspeedways in general, which cuts into his chances in the statistical model. One note, however, is that in Buescher’s career year of 2023, he won both the Richmond and Daytona summer races, so the general data may be underrating the magic he’s hoping to pull off again this year.
Ryan Preece (9.2% chance)
Standings situation: 17th, -23 points to the elimination line
Speaking of career years driving for RFK Racing, Preece is having one of those this season — and if the racing gods are feeling generous, they’ll help him add to it with a checkered flag before the final cutoff at Daytona. Back-to-back top fives at Indy and Iowa have capped off a recent stretch of consistency for Preece that’s seen him finish 15th or better 10 times in the past 12 races, a big part of why he’s close on Buescher’s tail in the points. But the reason he’s not higher here is that he has been less dominant than those finishes would lead us to think (he’s cracked a 90 Driver Rating just twice in that period), lowering his ceiling for that breakthrough first career win. At the remaining three regular-season tracks, Preece has just five career top 10s and two top fives in 24 starts, so he’ll need to improve his upside there in order to claim victory.
Brad Keselowski (8.7% chance)
Standings situation: 21st, -121 points to the elimination line
Of all the drivers who feel a desperate need for a win to extend their playoff chances and have driven well enough to get one, Keselowski tops the list. Unlike Bowman, who could still get in on points even if one new winner emerges from below him, Brad K. has essentially no chance to make up his 121-point deficit — and leapfrog five drivers (including two teammates) on points — over the next three races. So it’s down to a must-win string of races for the 2012 Cup Series champ, who started the year miserably but has shown outstanding progress in recent weeks. Going back to Pocono on June 22, Keselowski has finished top 11 or better in six of his past seven races, and his current rolling projected Driver Rating is the highest it’s been in more than a calendar year. (That includes a 124.4 at Iowa in a race he could have won.) He’s still probably not in good enough road-racing form to win at The Glen, but Brad K. is good on short tracks as a multi-time Richmond winner, and has a Daytona night race win in his resume as well. A playoff-clinching win would seal one of the greatest in-season turnarounds of the playoff era.
Best of the rest: Michael McDowell (7%), Carson Hocevar (6.7%), A.J. Allmendinger (6.1%), Kyle Busch (5.3%), John Hunter Nemechek (4%).
