Although a lengthy pit stop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course withheld Daniel Suárez from a pivotal win, there should still be plenty of optimism within the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing camp heading into the final two regular-season races.
While the pit stop incident in question might be four days in the rearview mirror, the error still resonates. After being a steady front-runner during the opening portion of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, Suárez brought his Chevrolet to pit row on the 48th circuit of a scheduled 82-lap contest. An air hose tangle with the left-front tire, however, created a 10-second gap behind Michael McDowell, and while Suárez was able to dig out of the deficit by close to half by the race’s end, it was not enough to overtake the No. 34, which eventually took home the hardware and clinched a coveted spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
A slow stop might suggest a disturbing trend, but a glimpse at the data suggests the misfire might be an anomaly instead of a new norm. Headlined by front-tire changer Josh Bush, rear-tire changer Jerick Newsome, tire carrier Jeremy Kimbrough, jackman Josh Appleby and fueler Milan Rudanovic, the No. 99 has delivered the fastest four-tire pit stop in five races this season (Auto Club, Talladega, New Hampshire, Richmond-2 and Michigan). And while the miscue might have weakened his average four-tire time compared to two weeks prior, the team remains the eighth-best in that department.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances, a third-place result wasn’t an entire loss. A still-strong points day means Suárez is only 28 points below the 16-driver postseason grid. But make no mistake: No matter how nice points are, Suárez is still hungry for a victory, and with another road course on the docket — this time at Watkins Glen International — an opportunity to lean on a fast No. 99 machine and a still-efficient pit crew could very well be the difference-maker to seizing the win and clinching a playoff berth this time around.
See below to analyze additional pit-road statistics through Indianapolis and before Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Two races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, and Watkins Glen International may be the final track where drivers can control their own fate before returning to the unknowns that await in the postseason preamble at Daytona.
Before cars hit the track this weekend for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), check out trends to watch, important info on Goodyear tires and interactive ways to follow all the action.
After Michael McDowell’s win at Indianapolis last weekend, the 2020 Cup Series champion currently sits 80 points below the playoff cutline and needs a win to compete for the title this year.
Elliott has proven to be one of the best road-course racers in the Cup Series, and Watkins Glen is where he scored his first career Cup Series win in 2018. Since then, the 27-year-old scored six more wins on left- and right-turn circuits to land third on the all-time road-course winners list.
Destiny is in Elliott’s control this weekend, and if he doesn’t score the victory on Sunday, it’s off to Daytona, where he will need to hit a walk-off.
Goodyear will bring the same tire setup that has been used on all road courses this season. Cup teams will be issued one set for practice, one set for qualifying and an additional five sets for Sunday’s race.
Wet-weather tires will also be available this weekend in the event of rainfall.
Along the right-side door bars and extending toward the rear clip, teams are mandated to run a steel plate in addition to the chassis adjustments made for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The right-side door bar gussets and the removal of the front clip V-brace are changes that remain, in addition to the removal of other front-clip components, to create a softer and larger crush zone for frontal impacts.
Also included in the updates are front bumper strut softening (modifications to existing parts), the requirement of an empty front ballast box and a modified cross brace. NASCAR incurs the cost of all these updates.
In the event of a lost wheel that is contained to pit road, the offending team will be subject to a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions. If the infraction occurs during a caution period, the offending team will restart at the tail end of the field.
If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty plus a two-race suspension for two crew members. Each penalty is series-specific: Violations in one series will not impact those crew members’ eligibility to participate in other series.
Fans can get in on the action all season long with NASCAR Fan Rewards, a free program that rewards fans for participating in the action when they watch races and play NASCAR Fantasy.
There’s no cost to join. Fans must be 18 years or older to participate in the program.
Earn points by checking into a race from home or at the track, setting your Fantasy Live lineup, making purchases on the NASCAR.com shop and more. Points can be redeemed for race tickets, merchandise and VIP experiences at the track, including pace car rides and waving the green flag at qualifying.
NASCAR Mobile has now added support for fans to “Follow the Race” and access live leaderboard and race information from Live Activities in the current app release (v13.2.0), available now. Android users, we didn’t forget you — the same functionality has been custom-built for Android devices, as well.
How to access Live Activities on iPhones:
Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
Select “Follow the Race.”
Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
To turn off, simply visit the leaderboard, click the three-dot menu and “Unfollow the Race.”
FANTASY LIVE 🏆
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR is introducing a new way for fans to explore its rich racing history well into the future. NASCAR Classics is now live on nascar.com (www.nascar.com/classics), offering free, ad-free viewing of more than 1,000 full race replays, condensed broadcasts and recap packages spanning eight decades of speed in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Anchoring the extensive archive is a new anniversary capsule: NASCAR’s Top 75 Greatest Races. The unranked collection, selected by the sanctioning body, showcases some of the most exciting on-track action, important milestones and enduring memories throughout NASCAR’s first 75 years, bookended by 1951’s Motor City 250 in Michigan and Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville in October of 2022. (A more detailed rundown of NASCAR’s Top 75 Greatest Races is available here on nascar.com.)
NASCAR also launched dedicated NASCAR Classics accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, extending the brand beyond the digital video destination to engage fans with a variety of throwback content on an ongoing basis.
“NASCAR Classics is a significant addition to our digital content offerings that for the first time ever gives fans around the world free, uninterrupted access to enjoy decades of past NASCAR Cup Series action whenever and wherever they’d like,” said Tim Clark, senior vice president and chief digital officer at NASCAR.
Visitors to NASCAR Classics can easily choose their own journey through history via navigation dropdowns that filter races by era and by track, or through a keyword search that lets them look for specific drivers and race names in addition to individual years and venues. Once a video is selected, a custom timeline tool enables viewers to jump directly to key moments throughout the race.
The increased interactivity comes courtesy of software company Twizted Design, with whom NASCAR partnered to build Classics on Twizted’s next-gen video streaming and management platform for OTT channels, called Videoflow.
NASCAR Classics includes most Cup Series race broadcasts available to date, and NASCAR will continue to add recently run Cup Series races to the online archive within weeks of their conclusion.
NASCAR rolls into Watkins Glen International this weekend with only two races remaining in the regular season. Fans can tune in to the Go Bowling at The Glen Cup Series race Sunday, Aug. 20 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
For many fans, immense memories immediately flood their brains when thinking back on the first 75 years of NASCAR’s existence.
As NASCAR celebrates its milestone anniversary throughout 2023, those moments are bound to come to the surface more frequently. Sometimes they are moments shared at home with our loved ones, some of whom have since passed on. They might have been made in the grandstands of a track alongside thousands of other passionate NASCAR fans, cheering their favorites to the checkered flag.
No matter where your memory was made or who it was with, your mind will quickly recall every little aspect of it: who was there; who the drivers were on the track; what paint schemes graced the cars; the sounds of the voices from the broadcast booth.
All of these things create everlasting memories and moments that helped shape NASCAR into what it is today.
For NASCAR’s 75th Anniversary, the sanctioning body has named a list of the 75 Greatest Races as a way to honor the legends and moments that helped build each and every one of us into the race fans that we are today.
There’s more. All of these races are now available to watch in full at NASCAR Classics, a newly launched website by the league, for the fans, dedicated to preserving and displaying the sport’s rich history for you to enjoy and remember again and again and again.
From the 1951 Motor City 250 in Michigan to Ross Chastain’s iconic “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville in 2022, here are the 75 Greatest Races in NASCAR history in chronological order. (Spoiler alert: We talk about race winners here, so if you want a surprise, please focus on the dates and tracks and not the subtext.)
1. Detroit, Aug. 12, 1951
As part of the 250th anniversary celebration of the city of Detroit, NASCAR runs a 250-mile event at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. The race was won by Tommy Thompson, the only victory of his Cup career.
Four months after suffering serious injuries in a crash at Charlotte, Herb Thomas wins his third career Southern 500. The race was a complete sellout, with 50,000 tickets sold.
Paul Goldsmith captures the final race on the Daytona beach course. He led all 39 laps in the event and held off Curtis Turner by just a few car lengths.
The inaugural Daytona 500 ends in a photo finish between drivers Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp. It took Bill France Sr. three days to officially crown a winner of the event.
Nelson Stacy pulls off the upset, passing Marvin Panch with less than 10 laps remaining and holding on to win the Southern 500. Panch was relieving Fireball Roberts in the No. 22 car after dropping out of the race early in his No. 42 for Petty Enterprises.
After winning his Daytona 500 qualifying race, as well as the Daytona 500, Fireball Roberts returns to Daytona in July and captures the 250-mile event at the track.
Marvin Panch, driver of the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford, misses the Daytona 500 after suffering injuries in a fiery crash. Panch was pulled out of the wreckage by Tiny Lund and was replaced in the 500 by Lund, who promptly went out and won the race.
Curtis Turner captures the checkered flag in a race that sees 14 lead changes among seven drivers. It was the 17th and final victory of Turner’s career.
David Pearson backs off to allow Richard Petty to take the lead as the two drivers take the white flag. Pearson then uses his horsepower to slingshot past Petty for the win.
The thrilling conclusion to the Daytona 500 sees race leaders Richard Petty and David Pearson crash in Turn 4, with Pearson limping past Petty’s demolished car for the victory.
Richard Petty wins the Daytona 500 in the first flag-to-flag coverage of a 500-mile race. His win is overshadowed by a late-race crash that ends with Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers, Donnie and Bobby, brawling on the backstretch.
Dale Earnhardt passes race leader Terry Labonte on the high side on the final lap at Talladega to grab the checkered flag. The race features an insane 68 lead changes.
Bill Elliott makes history by becoming the first driver in series history to capture the Winston Million, a $1 million bonus to any driver who could win three of the four crown jewel races in a season.
The thrilling finish to the third annual All-Star Race sees race leader Geoffrey Bodine spin late. This sets up a battle that leads to the “Pass in the Grass,” with Earnhardt holding on as his car slid through the grass, keeping the lead in the process.
After missing the first 11 races of the 1987 season due to an illness, Tim Richmond returns at Pocono, leads the final 47 laps and grabs the checkered flag.
It’s a special Valentine’s Day for the Allison family as Bobby Allison holds off his son Davey to win the Daytona 500. The duo celebrates together in Victory Lane.
Alan Kulwicki wins his first career Cup Series race. He celebrates with a “Polish Victory Lap,” which sees him drive counterclockwise around the track as he waves to the fans in the grandstand before taking his car to Victory Lane.
Contact from Rusty Wallace sends Darrell Waltrip around, as Wallace goes on to capture the All-Star event. This led to a brawl between the two teams in the pit area following the on-track incident.
Late-race contact between leaders Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd allows Geoffrey Bodine to get by to take the checkered flag and leaves both Earnhardt and Rudd trading words in the pits and through the broadcast following the race.
One of the most important races in NASCAR history sees Alan Kulwicki win the title over Bill Elliott and four other drivers who entered the race with a chance to win it. The race also marks the final start for Richard Petty and the debut of Jeff Gordon.
“The Dale and Dale Show” sees Dale Jarrett hold off Dale Earnhardt to capture his first Daytona 500 triumph, as his father Ned Jarrett calls him home to the finish from the broadcast booth.
Pittsboro, Indiana’s Jeff Gordon captures the inaugural Brickyard 400 in front of more than 250,000 fans, after race leader Ernie Irvan cuts a tire in the final laps.
Dale Earnhardt holds off a last-second charge from Rick Mast to win at Rockingham, in turn clinching his record-tying seventh Cup Series title with two races left on the schedule.
Terry Labonte limps his damaged and smoking No. 5 Chevrolet to Victory Lane after contact with Dale Earnhardt sends Labonte spinning across the start/finish line. Earnhardt is involved in a post-race altercation with Rusty Wallace that sees Wallace toss a water bottle at Earnhardt.
Jeff Gordon joins Bill Elliott as the only drivers to capture the $1 million Winston Million bonus with his win in the Southern 500. Elliott leads the most laps in the event and finishes fourth.
For the second time in four years, a last-lap battle at Bristol between Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte leaves with a damaged race car. This time though, it is Earnhardt taking the checkered flag.
Dale Earnhardt moves through the field, driving from 17th to first in the final six laps to capture what would be his 76th and final Cup Series victory.
As the NASCAR community was still shocked after losing Dale Earnhardt the previous week, his driver Steve Park captures the checkered flag at Rockingham. Park and his Daytona 500-winning teammate honor Earnhardt on the frontstretch following the race.
Kevin Harvick holds off Jeff Gordon in a photo finish to capture his first Cup Series victory. Fittingly, it was just Harvick’s third career start after taking over the car following the passing of Dale Earnhardt.
Using lessons learned from his father, Dale Earnhardt Jr. goes from sixth to first to win the first race at Daytona after his dad passed away at the track in February.
An issue with Kurt Busch’s wheel leads to a tight battle for the championship, with Busch edging Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon for the title by eight and sixteen points, respectively. This concludes the first Chase playoff format in series history.
One of the most dramatic Daytona 500 finishes ever sees Kevin Harvick edge Mark Martin at the line by 0.020 seconds, as Clint Bowyer slides across the start/finish line on his roof to finish 18th.
Jeff Gordon’s 76th Cup Series victory ties Dale Earnhardt on the all-time wins list. Gordon honors Earnhardt after the race with a victory lap while holding a No. 3 flag.
The first win of Brad Keselowski’s career comes in wild fashion, as he takes the checkered flag while Carl Edwards’ car crashes into the catchfence behind him.
Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards enter the season finale separated by just three points in the season standings. The race didn’t disappoint as the two drivers finish first and second in the race, creating a tie in points. Stewart captures the title thanks to a tiebreaker earned for winning more races than Edwards throughout the season.
Race leader Kyle Busch is turned by Brad Keselowski in the esses on the final lap, leading to an intense battle between Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose. The two drivers trade sheet metal on and off the track in a remarkable last-lap fight for the victory.
Jeff Gordon’s retaliation against Clint Bowyer leads to Bowyer sprinting across the garage to try to catch Gordon before a big scrum breaks out between the two teams. This overshadowed a green-white-checkered finish that sees Kevin Harvick win and multiple cars destroyed as they cross the start/finish line.
Race-leader Jimmie Johnson is penalized for jumping the restart, setting up an intense late-race battle between Juan Pablo Montoya and eventual race winner Tony Stewart.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the leader on the final restart and thanks to a handful of big blocks, he holds off the field to capture his second Daytona 500 victory.
The first winner-take-all championship battle in series history sees Kevin Harvick hold off a late charge from another championship contender, Ryan Newman, to win his first Cup Series title.
In a season that starts with Kyle Busch watching the Daytona 500 from a hospital bed, he overcomes a broken leg and shattered left foot to capture his first Cup Series championship.
Matt Kenseth leads the field into Turn 4 on the final lap before Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. make it three-wide, setting up the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.
The championship finale is full of drama, capped off by Carl Edwards crashing with just 10 laps remaining. This allows Jimmie Johnson to take control and capture his record-tying seventh Cup Series title.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. leave Turn 4 on the final lap side-by-side as just about everyone wrecks behind them. Busch comes out victorious in the first race at the track under the lights.
Race leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson spin right before the finish line, as Ryan Blaney sneaks by to win the first race at the Charlotte Roval.
Denny Hamlin’s second career Daytona 500 victory comes after holding off his teammates Kyle Busch and Erik Jones in overtime. The 1-2-3 finish is bittersweet for the Joe Gibbs Racing team, as they were dealing with the loss of J.D. Gibbs, team owner Joe Gibbs’ son who passed away in January 2019.
Kyle Larson’s win is overshadowed by the drama created by Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick. The two drivers have disagreements both on the track and in the pits before discussing things further in the No. 9 hauler.
The second race at Circuit of The Americas sees a thrilling last-lap battle between Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger, with Chastain coming out on top for his first career victory.
Christopher Bell captures a walk-off win to keep his championship hopes alive. Ross Chastain’s dramatic “Hail Melon” move on the final lap moves him on to the next round.
THOMPSON, Conn. — Wednesday evening saw three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore reach an important milestone at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
By dominating the second half of the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com, Bonsignore earned an impressive 13th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at the facility. This puts him in a tie with Tour legend Ted Christopher on the series’ all-time list for Thompson victories.
As has been the case in many races this year, Bonsignore had to battle 2011 champion Ron Silk all the way to the checkered flag to bring home the historic win.
“It feels amazing to tie Ted Christopher on the all-time wins list [at Thompson],” Bonsignore said. “It’s something we had been wanting to do for a couple of years now. I was just trying to mind the gap with Ron [Silk], and I didn’t know how much he had left in the tank.
“On that last restart, he gave me a lot of respect.”
Bonsignore admitted matching Christopher’s Thompson win total was a moment that was long overdue.
During the late 2010s, Bonsignore was an unstoppable force at Thompson back when the track was featured four times on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. From 2018-19, Bonsignore won seven of eight races, including six in a row.
The turn of the decade featured diminishing returns for Bonsignore around Thompson. He gradually fell down the running order with each appearance, which culminated into an abysmal showing last October that saw him finish two laps down in 14th.
Bonsignore was initially unsure if he would shake off a streak of inconsistency at the start of Wednesday’s Thompson 150 after struggling to gain track position in the opening stint. Once he got fresh tires and clean air, nothing could stop Bonsignore from adding another accomplishment to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record book.
“For a place where we had so many wins, we really lost our confidence in the last year and a half,” Bonsignore said. “We got lapped a bunch of times in October, but [Ryan] Stone went to work on this car and tried something really different today. We missed it a little bit on the first set [of tires], but it was really good on the second set.”
Silk tried everything to keep pace with Bonsignore in the closing stages of the Thompson 150 and even found a couple of good looks underneath him for the lead. A late-race caution failed to provide Silk another opening, and he was forced to watch Bonsignore take the checkered flag.
“I don’t think I could have gotten [Bonsignore] anyway,” Silk said. “He was a little bit better than we were. He could roll the center better, but it was still a good effort. I was loose during the first run and made some aggressive changes to tighten us up for the second. We just got it a tiny bit too tight.”
Although Wednesday’s outcome means he will lose some of his advantage in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings, Silk was proud of the hard work his team put in to improve his car and minimize the damage from a Bonsignore win.
For Bonsignore, who now has 38 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to his name, Wednesday carried more significance than just tying Christopher’s record at Thompson.
As Bonsignore embarked on a Polish victory lap around Thompson, he took an extra moment in Turn 1 to honor the late John Blewett III, who earned one of his 10 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories at the facility before tragically passing away in a crash at the track in 2007.
“I left the [checkered] flag up in Turn 1,” Bonsignore said. “That’s where John Blewett III was killed. I saw Doug Coby do that years ago, and I had always wanted to do that. [Wednesday] was the day we lost John all those years ago, and he was the biggest badass there was.
“If we could do anything to honor him, that’s pretty cool.”
With one more visit to Thompson scheduled on the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour calendar in October, Bonsignore has an opportunity to inch closer to another late series legend in Mike Stefanik, who holds the record for most Thompson wins with 15.
Regardless of whether he is able to eclipse Stefanik’s total, Bonsignore’s triumph on Wednesday further cemented him as one of the greatest to ever race at Thompson alongside the many he idolized growing up.
Following Silk in the finish order was the most recent Thompson winner in Eric Goodale, with Austin Beers and Craig Lutz completing the top five.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Bobby Santos III, Patrick Emerling, Doug Coby, Anthony Sesely and Tyler Rypkema.
A replay of the Thompson 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park can be seen on CNBC on Aug. 26 at 12 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour gets 10 days of rest before it makes another trip down south, this time to Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia for the CheckeredFlag.com 150. The green flag flies at 8 p.m. ET, with FloRacing providing the coverage.
MINNEAPOLIS — The countdown has begun! NASCAR Arcade Rush revealed today will launch on Sept. 15, 2023, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. Get your first look at the action with the new gameplay reveal trailer, showcasing heart-pumping competition, wildly reimagined spins on iconic, real-world tracks and high-speed NASCAR excitement like you’ve never seen before.
Experience the thrill of NASCAR racing in a completely new way with intense arcade races on iconic NASCAR tracks, totally reengineered with jaw-dropping twists, hair-raising turns, gravity-defying jumps, nitro boosts and other surprises. Customize your car and driver as you compete to take the top position across a variety of game modes, including the Career NASCAR Cup Series plus online and local multiplayer.
Key Features
Iconic Tracks, Wild Twists: Experience real-world NASCAR tracks like Talladega Superspeedway, Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and more in all-new ways that will thrill your imagination and deliver a new level of playability within the vaunted NASCAR video game franchise.
Race Your Way: Choose from a full array of vehicles spanning 75 years of stock car racing history and horsepower. Customize your car and driver to suit your style with new paint schemes, rims, spoilers, visual effects, suits, helmets and more, with thousands of combinations to discover.
Robust Racing Modes: NASCAR Arcade Rush features expansive single-player modes, including the Career NASCAR Cup Series, Quick Race and Time Attack. Take on your friends in thrilling head-to-head local multiplayer*, or race rivals worldwide in 12-player online multiplayer.
NASCAR Arcade Rush is available to preorder now for $49.99 at major retailers.
Fans can also look forward to the NASCAR Project-X Bundlefor NASCAR Arcade Rush for $59.99. This digital exclusive will include not only the full base game but also comes loaded with extra NASCAR Project-X playable content featuring:
A hovercraft car model developed as part of Project-X
Project-X paint scheme, rims, wheels and spoiler
Project-X-themed drivers suit and helmet
Project-X team sponsorship option
Project-X vehicle FX package
A set of four additional in-game emojis to showcase your style
NASCAR Arcade Rush is published by GameMill Entertainment. For more information, visit NASCARArcadeRush.com
*Local multiplayer available only on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
In back-to-back weeks, the NASCAR Cup Series is competing on a pair of the United States’ most historic racing venues. After a run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course last weekend, the best stock-car racers in the world will now test themselves on the iconic Watkins Glen International road course in upstate New York.
The bucolic countryside near the famed Finger Lakes, site of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), has been a racing “go-to” for decades in various forms and fashions and is a most-fitting host during NASCAR’s celebrated 75th Anniversary season.
And the track’s place in NASCAR history is certainly not lost on its modern-day competitors.
“Watkins Glen is kind of a road-racing treasure in our country, just because of all the history and things that it has between the town and the track,” said 2006 Watkins Glen winner Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. “That venue has held some great races throughout the years, and our races up there during the last decade have been full of fans and a lot of fun to see how road racing has progressed through the years. It’s fun to go up there.”
A Pennsylvanian named Frank Griswold drove an Alfa Romeo to victory in the very first road race, an amateur event called the “Watkins Glen Grand Prix” in 1948 – an eight-lap affair on a 6.6-mile course made up of paved and dirt roads about town. Years later, engineering professors from nearby Cornell University helped develop a proper 2.3-mile road course on 550 acres that didn’t require sharing the actual city streets.
That relocation into the peaceful hillside hosted a one-off NASCAR race in 1957 won by Buck Baker – his margin of victory measured in distance, 0.46 miles over Fireball Roberts.
Soon upgrades were made to the facility, and it played host to the Formula One World Championship season finale in 1961 – a race won by Innes Ireland by a slight 4.3 seconds over American legend Dan Gurney and featured NASCAR Hall of Famer Roger Penske with an eighth-place showing that day.
The grand prix road course was so popular – both stateside and abroad – that Watkins Glen played host to F1 until 1980, boasting a winner’s list including Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and Gilles Villeneuve.
During that time, NASCAR hosted another pair of races at The Glen, with Billy Wade (1964) and Marvin Panch (1965) hoisting trophies for America’s burgeoning and beloved stock-car series.
The NASCAR Cup Series returned to Watkins Glen to stay in 1986 and has been a steady and hugely popular sporting event ever since – for almost four decades, the track was one of only two annual road course events on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, compared to the half dozen road or street courses the series visits today.
The late Tim Richmond won that 1986 race around the now 2.45-mile, 11-turn course that has presented a lot of compelling stock-car history.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace and the great road racer Ricky Rudd exchanged trophies for four consecutive years from 1987-90. Mark Martin was the first NASCAR driver to win three consecutive races there (1993-95) – a feat matched later (1997-99) by fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.
It is a NASCAR Hall of Famer who holds the all-time record for NASCAR Cup Series victories on the Watkins Glen road course. Tony Stewart has five wins – winning four times in a six-year span between 2002-07. Gordon is second on the all-time list with four victories.
If you add in achievement in the NASCAR Xfinity Series races – the all-time winningest NASCAR driver on the track is Australian Marcos Ambrose, who earned a total of six trophies with a pair of NASCAR Cup Series wins (2011-12) and four victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2008-10 and 2014). Canadian Ron Fellows won three NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the track (1998, 2000-01) and twice (1999 and 2004) finished runner-up in the NASCAR Cup Series event.
Interesting in the track’s history is that it is one of the rare venues where seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and inaugural class Hall of Famer Richard Petty did not earn a trophy. The family name, however, is still a part of the laurels as his son Kyle Petty – now a popular broadcaster for NBC Sports – won in 1992.
Eight NASCAR Cup Series drivers who will be competing this weekend have won at the track – Harvick, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, current championship points leader Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.
Elliott won back-to-back races in 2018-19, and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate – and fellow NASCAR Cup Series champion – Larson has won the last two races (2021-22). Larson (2022) and Logano (2015) are the only drivers to sweep a NASCAR weekend, winning both Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series races at Watkins Glen.
Watkins Glen – the fifth of six road courses on the schedule – is now one of the last two regular-season races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, making this weekend’s event a potential “season-maker” for the race winner and leaving only next week’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to firm up that 16-driver playoff field.
“[Watkins Glen] is a track where you can definitely play some strategy and do some things,” said Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, who still needs a win to secure a playoff position.
“I’m looking forward to it. I always feel like it’s always a beautiful weekend up there, so it should be good.”
