NASCAR betting: Chase Elliott a fond favorite for Watkins Glen three-peat

Posted on August 6, 2021August 6, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

While competing teams have been chipping away at Hendrick Motorsports’ superiority in recent weeks, the betting market expects the top Hendrick drivers to reassert their dominance when the Cup Series returns from its two-week break Sunday at Watkins Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Chase Elliott, winner of the two most recent races on the famed road course in upstate New York, is priced as the obvious favorite, with sportsbooks around the country dealing 2/1 odds on the No. 9 Chevrolet making it three in a row. Those are tight odds for a NASCAR outright market (betting on a driver to win the race), but it’s familiar territory for Elliott on a road course.

At Road America on July 4, Elliott claimed the checkers at +250 (5/2 odds, or bet $100 to win $250), a price bettors would relish on the No. 9 this week. Elliott was +200 (2/1) when he finished second on the Sonoma road course in June, +180 when he won at Austin’s Circuit Of The Americas in May, and +250 for his anomalous 21st-place finish on the Daytona Road Course in February.

Over the last nine road course races dating back to 2019, Elliott has six wins and two seconds. While this analysis is an oversimplification, that 66.67% win rate makes +200 odds (which imply a 33.33% chance to win) look awfully enticing.

Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen is the first of two consecutive road course stops for the Cup Series, with the road layout at Indianapolis Motor Speedway set for Aug. 15. In other words, expect a similar skinny price on Elliott next week.

Next on the Watkins Glen oddsboard is Elliott’s Hendrick teammate, Kyle Larson, who looked nearly untouchable during a nine-race stretch earlier this season in which he tallied four wins and four seconds (including the All-Star Race). That run included a win at Sonoma and a second in Austin, and the current favorite to win the 2021 Cup title has the market’s respect this week, priced at a consensus +450.

Looking for value among other contenders

Team Penske occupies the first three spots on Sunday’s starting grid, but Joe Gibbs Racing is the greatest threat to Hendrick, per the betting numbers. More specifically, it’s Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch.

Truex’s road-course record is stellar, second only to Elliott’s, and while he hasn’t won a race since Darlington in May, there’s still plenty of confidence in the No. 19. In the 12 road course races since 2018, Truex has finished in the top 10 nine times, including a pair of wins and six top fives. With an 8.0 average finish and 114.1 rating over those dozen runs, he’s offered at +650 at BetMGM and Barstool, an attractive number when comparing it to the +500 being dealt at the market-making SuperBook USA in Las Vegas.

Busch has four wins in 38 career road-course races but none in his last 12. He has five top-five finishes on road courses since 2018, and his 97.1 driver rating during that stretch ranks fourth in the series.

And the No. 18 is in the best form of any team in the JGR garage, putting together six top fives over the eight most recent races, including a fifth at Sonoma and a third at Road America. Bettors buying into Busch but hesitant to back him to win the race at +800 odds have these among their other options at BetMGM: -105 for a top-five finish, +105 in a matchup prop vs. Truex, and -125 vs. Joey Logano.

Speaking of Logano, the No. 22 is offered at a fat +1500 at BetMGM and +1400 at Barstool to visit Victory Lane on Sunday, numbers that scream value when considering the +1000 posted at the SuperBook.

A pick to consider

Media personality Todd Fuhrman, a former Vegas oddsmaker, chimed in with a pick for NASCAR bettors to consider Sunday.

Ross Chastain has found some mid-season momentum, finishing in the top eight in five of the last nine races, including a fourth-place finish in Austin and a seventh at Road America. While the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is a long +4000 to win the race, per consensus pricing, Fuhrman likes the No. 42 Chevy to finish in the top 10 at +125, a number available at Barstool as of Friday.

Fuhrman has been tabbed by NASCAR to host a series of betting tutorial videos launching this week.

Futures action at BetMGM

While Larson is the clear favorite to win the 2021 NASCAR Cup Championship, one bettor in Las Vegas got down a substantial amount of money on Larson futures just before the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, the first of three straight points race victories for the No. 5.

Per an email NASCAR.com received from Michael Ranftle, a Sports Trader at BetMGM, that’s when a $20,000 wager was placed at the Bellagio on Larson at +550, a potential $110,000 payout.

“Smart time to get onboard,” Ranftle wrote.

Three weeks later, another bettor at Beau Rivage in Mississippi bet $10,000 Larson at +275, hoping to cash $27,500.

Ahead of Watkins Glen, BetMGM is on the low end of the Larson futures market, dealing +225, while Vegas bettors can find +300 at the SuperBook.

In the two races preceding the two-week break, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola disrupted a streak of 19 races won by a driver from either the Hendrick, Gibbs or Penske garage, slipping into the playoff field. While Busch can be had at +2500 and Almirola for +4000 at BetMGM, neither has drawn much betting interest, according to Ranftle, as Larson, Ellliott and Kurt’s brother, Kyle, have seen the bulk of futures action.

Marcus DiNitto is a writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been covering sports for nearly two-and-a-half decades and sports betting for more than 10 years. His first NASCAR betting experience was in 1995 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he went 0-for-3 on his matchup picks. Read his articles and follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on August 6, 2021 by Jerry Bonkowski

Going to a NASCAR race is like partaking of a meal in a fancy restaurant: you’re there for the main course, but it’s the a la carte add-ons and appetizers that help enhance the overall experience.

With NASCAR, the main course is, of course, the race. But it’s the extras that add increased value to your enjoyment.

Those extras can come in the manner of at-track events or activities at nearby locations. We like to call them “under-the-radar” experiences.

RELATED: Buy tickets to a NASCAR race

As part of NASCAR’s Summer Family Fun initiative, here are 10 categories that if you haven’t already done so, check them out the next time you head to your favorite track.

1) “Hands-on” pedal to the metal: If you can’t be a race car driver in real life, you can pretend to be one for at least a few laps – under the watchful eyes of trained and safety-conscious instructors, of course. Among some of the best NASCAR-themed racing schools that operate around the country, including many NASCAR tracks (search for them in your favorite online browser) are the Richard Petty Driving Experience, the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience, Seat Time Racing School, Radford Racing School, and even the Mario Andretti Racing Experience for those of you who feel the need for speed Indy car-style.

2) Channel your inner Michael Waltrip: One of the things Michael Waltrip has become best known for on NASCAR on FOX telecasts is his pre-race “grid walk,” where he talks to drivers on pit road. You can have your own version of the grid walk, as many tracks have pre-race track walks and track tours (some operate almost every day of the year, in-season or out-of-season, but check because during the COVID-19 pandemic their schedules/tour policies may have changed). Among key tracks: Daytona International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

3) Racing museums have a different kind of “art collection”: Many race tracks play host to museums – either on the actual grounds of the track or nearby – that focus on various forms of racing, most notably NASCAR. Among some of the best: NASCAR Hall of Fame (Charlotte, N.C.), International Motorsports Hall of Fame (Talladega, Ala.), Richard Childress Racing Museum (Welcome, N.C.), Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum and the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (Darlington, S.C.), Wood Brothers Racing Museum and the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame (Stuart, Va.), Petty Museum (Randleman, N.C.), Penske Racing Museum (Phoenix, Az.), Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (Daytona Beach, Fla.), North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame (Mooresville, N.C.) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum (Speedway, Ind.).

4) It’s not sacrilegious to pay homage to other sports (and even Rock & Roll): If you’re looking for something else in addition to attending a NASCAR race, you won’t upset the racing gods if you tie in activities associated with other sports. For example, if you go to Michigan International Speedway for a NASCAR race, you can visit nearby locations like the Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Mich.), the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Canton, Ohio) and even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, Ohio). If you find yourself at Watkins Glen International, you would also have a great time at the Baseball Hall of Fame in legendary Cooperstown, N.Y. If you go to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, head over to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Your choice of racing “add-ons” is only limited by your imagination.

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

5) Play me a tune, will you? For nearly its entire existence, NASCAR has practically been joined at the hip by the world of music. Regardless of the genre, be it country or rock or pop, soul or hip-hop, NASCAR fans love ‘em some tunes. Over the years, numerous NASCAR tracks have played host to some of the biggest names in the music business, often times offering a value-added pre-race concert that is part of your ticket price. And many continue that practice today. Among some of the best that have played the NASCAR circuit over the years: REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar (formerly of Van Halen), Loverboy, Pitbull, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs (pictured), Zac Brown Band, Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Kansas and many others.

6) What comes after racin’ and music? Food, of course! Fans aren’t just hungry for racing, they’re also hungry for food, with many of those same race fans having acquired some favorite places to visit to indulge their tummies at all points in-between from Loudon to Los Angeles. One of the most notable places is In-N-Out Burger, which has locations in many states including California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Colorado. In fact, it’s a NASCAR tradition for hundreds of NASCAR team members, drivers and officials to immediately go from landing at the airport to the nearest In-N-Out location for famous Double-Double burgers, fries and the like. Other places that highlight race fans’ palates include Indianapolis (St. Elmo’s Steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse), Loudon (the Weathervane seafood restaurant), Talladega (Sonny’s BBQ), and many more.

7) Don’t forget your swimsuit: When you’re tired from a long day at the track and want to cool off or work on your tan, one of the nice things about NASCAR is how many tracks are close to beaches, oceans and/or lakes. Among the more notable: Daytona Beach, Miami Beach (near Homestead-Miami Speedway); Venice Beach in Los Angeles; beaches along the eastern shore in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts; the Atlantic Ocean near Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and, of course, the home to many drivers and teams: Lake Norman, north of Charlotte.

8) Let’s play – err, let’s race – two (or more) today: Baseball Hall of Famer, the late Ernie Banks, had one of the greatest sayings in baseball. “Let’s play two today,” Banks enthusiastically uttered hundreds of times during his career, essentially calling for a doubleheader so fans could see twice the amount of baseball in a day for the price of just one ticket. NASCAR racing has something similar to that: a number of tracks like to hold additional events on NASCAR race weekends. Places like Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, in particular, oftentimes host undercard race events on Cup weekends that feature sprint cars, late models and modifieds at the short tracks adjacent to the parent facilities. But there’s other racing to be had, as well: visit some of the nearly one-thousand grassroots tracks around the country where many of NASCAR’s greatest drivers got their racing career starts. It’s rare that you can’t find an open short track within an hour or so from a NASCAR track.

9) A “shop-ing” we will go: One of the best parts of attending NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway are the literally dozens of race shops (across the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series), souvenir stores and racing-related businesses that call the Charlotte area home and also where you can take tours and shop for souvenirs. At present, most shops are closed for tours to the public as a precaution from COVID-19, but some team stores are open. One big tip: shops are typically less crowded around the October ROVAL race at CMS than the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.

10) Last but not least: Two other bits of extracurricular activities that have grown significantly in recent years are gambling/betting and visits to wineries. With more states legalizing sports gambling, fans can get even closer to all the race action by betting on their favorite drivers to beat the odds. And some tracks are particularly close to casinos including Michigan, Dover, New Hampshire, Kansas, Las Vegas and Indianapolis. And if you’re thirsty, there are several wineries within close proximity to a number of tracks, including places like Richard Childress’ Vineyards near Lexington, N.C., as well as “wine country” near Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, and other grapes of race (not wrath) in states that host NASCAR events.

Follow Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski and also follow his podcast, @TheRacingBeat.

Posted on August 6, 2021August 6, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

This article was originally published on Aug. 1, 2018.

NASCAR Cup Series drivers are set to take on the fifth road course of the season — the 2.45-mile, seven-turn Watkins Glen International located in the Finger Lakes region of central New York.

Drivers will see higher speeds compared to other road courses on the schedule. Mark Martin, three-time winner at The Glen, once said Watkins Glen is the “superspeedway of road courses.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Watkins Glen

Ahead of Sunday’s GoBowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), we analyze each turn the competitors will need to master for 90 laps to have a shot at victory.

Turn 1: Once drivers take the green flag, they are immediately faced with a downhill trek into the first corner. Carrying a ton of speed down the straightaway, this is a heavy braking zone in order to get the car slowed down enough to make the right-hand turn. This is one of the best opportunities to make a pass, and Turn 1 can get chaotic very quickly, especially on restarts.

Turn 2: After making it through the first turn, the drivers hop on a short straight which leads them gradually uphill and into the second right-hand corner. This turn begins the ascent through the “esses” portion of the road course.

Turn 3: Continuing the uphill climb through the esses, this sweeping left-hander can be treacherous as drivers begin to carry some speed up the slope.

Turn 4: This corner is the final portion of the esses. Drivers complete the uphill climb and the corner starts to level off, building up more speed as they enter the backstretch of the road course.

Inner Loop: The backstretch allows the drivers to gain a ton of momentum, which leads them into another heavy braking zone and into the bus stop, or the inner loop section of the course. Hot on the brakes upon entry, this is a great place to overtake someone before making a quick series of right- and left-hand turns. Lots of slipping, sliding and spinning is bound to occur here.

Turn 5: Also referred to as the carousel, drivers approach this long, sweeping right-hander. With a banking of 10 degrees, the steepest turn of the road course, it allows drivers to build up speed as they make their way onto the straightaway leading into Turn 6.

Turn 6: After gaining speed while traveling down the 2,040-foot chute, drivers are approached with another heavy braking zone at the entrance of this left-hand corner. Competitors use this turn to either make a quick pass, or to set themselves up for a pass heading into Turn 7.

Turn 7: Once they are through Turn 6, a short chute gives the drivers just enough time to adjust to make a good angle through the final corner. This is another chance to make a quality pass as the right-hand bend trickles drivers onto the frontstretch and down to the start-finish line.

Posted on August 5, 2021August 5, 2021 by Staff Report

Same song, different verse.

The 2021 NASCAR Champion’s Week will return to Nashville, Tennessee, taking “Music City” by storm from Nov. 30-Dec. 2. The annual postseason celebration that sees drivers, industry luminaries and celebrities alike help formally crown the series champion will be held Dec. 2 at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion will be crowned once again in Tennessee after the awards were last held in person in the city in 2019 and met with amazing support from some of the most passionate fans in the industry. All three national series will be lauded this time, with the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series champions set to be celebrated as well.

Other Champion’s Week events will be announced at a later date.

Photo credit: Music City Center

The formal postseason Awards is a tradition that stretches back to 1981, when the event was held in New York City. It relocated to Las Vegas in 2009 and Nashville in 2019 before a virtual show in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NASCAR and Nashville have a history, too.

A long-awaited and successful return to Nashville Superspeedway happened this year, seeing championship hopeful Kyle Larson take home the Cup win in a national series tripleheader weekend. The 1.33-mile concrete track sat dormant since the final NASCAR-sanctioned event — an Xfinity Series race won by now-retired driver Carl Edwards on July 23, 2011. Under the guidance of new track president Erik Moses, a multi-million dollar transformation saw a multitude of improvements and developments bring the track up to date and ready for the full capacity crowds it saw back in June.

MORE Revival reaction as roar returns to Nashville

In addition, Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville hosted 42 Cup Series races from 1958-84, with the circuit visiting twice a year from 1973-84.

NASCAR will continue to work in accordance with local and state government and health officials, using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization’s guidelines to ensure a safe event.

More details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Posted on August 5, 2021August 5, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

NASCAR is launching a pair of initiatives this week aimed at educating race fans about sports betting.

“Education is a top one, two or three priority for me,” Joe Solosky, NASCAR’s managing director of sports betting, said in April, about a month into his new job. “It’s something that I’m working on … to teach fans how to bet on NASCAR or what the advantages and differences are of NASCAR against other sports.”

Ahead of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), NASCAR will roll out the first in a series of five short videos featuring media personality and former Las Vegas oddsmaker Todd Fuhrman. The videos feature Fuhrman offering 90-second tutorials on a variety of NASCAR betting markets.

The first episode focuses on the outright market (the race winner) and is set to be followed by episodes covering the winning team; winning manufacturer; odds to finish in the top three, five and 10; and head-to-head matchup props.

“The best part about NASCAR is that the market changes week to week, and you’re going to have ample opportunity to shop around for the best prices,” Fuhrman tells viewers.

“It’s not just going to the window for a ticket on the favorite at 3-to-1 hoping for the best-case scenario,” he continues, “but shopping around through a variety of our NASCAR partners and identifying not only the favorite but some of the value propositions that are available and maybe even that long shot you think has an excellent chance to grab the checkered flag,”

While Cup Series races are typically won by drivers with short odds, the video highlights the fact that multiple races this season have been won by long shots, including Aric Almirola (at 75-1) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 18.

Plans call for one video to be shown each week through the rest of the season. The end roll of the videos have branding from NASCAR’s three betting partners – BetMGM, Barstool Sportsbook, and Wynn BET – as well as “Have a Game Plan,” the American Gaming Association’s responsible gambling program.

Odds Ticker

Beginning with this weekend’s Cup race at Watkins Glen, viewers of NASCAR Drive, the NASCAR.com live streaming product featuring in-car cameras, will see a crawl across the top of the screen presenting live odds.

Fans will have the ability to opt-out of the odds ticker as Solosky stressed the ticker is an educational initiative, not a revenue driver. The odds viewers will see are consensus numbers aggregated by SharpLink, a gaming technology partner of NASCAR’s, not specific lines from one of the racing organization’s betting sponsors.

There is certainly a revenue opportunity down the road, of course. The ticker could be sponsorable real estate, and functionality could be built to take viewers directly to a betting platform with a simple click.

“We’re taking a crawl before you walk approach with this,” Solosky said. “We’re getting people used to seeing odds on a second-screen experience but having some sort of link to a bookmaker is probably a logical next step.”

Posted on August 5, 2021August 5, 2021 by Reid Spencer

When NASCAR resumes racing after the longest break in the schedule in three decades, we should be prepared to hand the winner’s trophy to Chase Elliott after 90 laps at Watkins Glen International, right?

After all, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion won the last two races at the 2.45-mile road course, and he’s the heavy favorite to win a third straight in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Elliott’s road course credentials are impeccable. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet picked up his first career victory at The Glen in 2018 and followed that with another win in 2019. (There was no race at Watkin Glen in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic).

All told, seven of Elliott’s 13 Cup victories have come on road courses, including both his wins this year—in the inaugural event at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, and the long-awaited return of the NASCAR Cup Series to Road America.

“We’re excited to get back to Watkins Glen,” says Elliott, who beat runner-up Martin Truex Jr. in his last two trips to The Glen. “Any time you can run well and win somewhere, it’s always nice to go back.

“Winning in the Cup Series, in general, is something to be proud of, in my opinion, regardless of where it is or who you beat. The last couple of trips to The Glen, I’ve enjoyed battling Martin. I feel like we share a lot of mutual respect and have for many years, so I have enjoyed those battles with him.”

There’s one obstacle to Elliott’s march to Victory Lane on Sunday. After finishing 18th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the last Cup event before the Olympics break, he’ll start 11th at Watkins Glen.

In the last 16 events at the historic road course in New York’s Finger Lakes District, the winner has come from the top 10 on the grid 14 times—the exceptions being Tony Stewart from 13th in 2009 and Joey Logano from 16th in 2015. Elliott’s two victories at the track came from third in 2018 and from the pole a year later.

Truex starts two positions ahead of Elliott, so the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota also will have work to do.

“I think the last two second-place finishes, it was just track position,” says Truex, who picked up his lone victory at WGI in 2017. “The 9 (Elliott) ended up in front of us, and we couldn’t pass him. That’s a really, really fast place, and it can be difficult to pass. His car was better in different spots than mine.

“From lap times, we were faster both years — I could get to him, but he was fast in the right places where I couldn’t pass him. I will have to hopefully figure out how to get faster in a few key areas.”

The three Team Penske drivers—Brad Keselowski, Logano and Ryan Blaney—will start from the top three spots on the grid, in that order. Keselowski finished second in three consecutive races (2011-2013), twice to road-course ace Marcos Ambrose and once to Kyle Busch.

Logano won at The Glen in 2015 and finished second to Denny Hamlin a year later, but in his last three starts there, he has a best result of 23rd. Blaney’s best finish was fifth in 2019, in his fourth Cup start at the track.

With the Cup debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course to follow, Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen is the first of two straight road course races and the 23rd event of the 26-race Cup regular season.

At WGI, two very important battles are set to take place. Hamlin, who is winless this year, is fighting to retain his series points lead over Kyle Larson, with 15 playoff points and an automatic playoff berth on the line for the regular-season champion.

Hamlin holds a 13-point lead over four-time winner Larson, who has clinched a playoff berth thanks to his multiple trips to Victory Lane.

At the bottom of the Playoff grid, Tyler Reddick leads Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon by five points in a heated battle for the final playoff position.

BUBBLE WATCH: Drivers are cutting it close on cutline

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Reid Spencer

It’s the last-chance showdown for drivers hoping to make the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs.

With one race left in the regular season, seven drivers already have clinched berths — regular-season champion and five-time winner John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, Austin Hill, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, Matt Crafton and defending series champion Sheldon Creed.

That leaves three spots available entering Saturday’s United Rentals 176 at Watkins Glen International (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Carson Hocevar, Stewart Friesen and Chandler Smith currently occupy the last three playoff-eligible positions. Given that Smith holds a 40-point lead over Derek Kraus — the first driver out — it’s likely Kraus will have to win the race to advance to the postseason.

The same is true for Tyler Ankrum and 2016 series champion Johnny Sauter, who are 44 and 51 points below the cutoff, respectively.

Smith, on the other hand, simply needs to avoid disaster — and to avoid the whammy of a driver below him in the standings winning the race.

“I think the biggest thing for us going to Watkins Glen is just not beating ourselves,” said Smith, who will start third behind Hill and Gilliland. “We’ve got to finish the race, make sure we are 25th or better, have a solid day on my end and the pit crew’s end and hope everything goes our way.”

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Paul Menard will drive a fifth truck for ThorSport Racing on Saturday. Though the Truck Series hasn’t competed at Watkins Glen since 2000, Menard has a combined 27 national series starts there — 11 in the Xfinity Series and 16 in Cup.

To win the race, however, Menard will have to overcome a 39th-place starting position.

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Staff Report

Chase Purdy will miss Saturday’s United Rentals 176 Camping World Truck Series race at Watkins Glen International (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after testing positive for COVID-19, GMS Racing announced Thursday morning.

Purdy, the driver of the No. 23 Chevrolet, is experiencing mild symptoms and will be forced to miss the race in accordance with NASCAR protocol and CDC guidelines. Xfinity Series regular AJ Allmendinger will pilot the truck in his absence.

“Late yesterday afternoon, GMS Racing driver Chase Purdy tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms,” the team said in a statement. “1n accordance with NASCAR protocol and the CDC guidelines, Purdy will not compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Watkins Glen International. AJ Allmendinger has agreed to substitute as the replacement driver of the No. 23 Bama Buggies Chevrolet. We wish Chase a steady recovery and hope to see him compete at the series’ next event at World Wide Technology Raceway in Gateway.”

Still in search of his first top 10 of the season, Purdy is ranked 19th in the series’ points standings.

Allmendinger will be making his first Truck Series start since 2008. He has three top 10s in 13 career starts dating back to 2006.

Posted on August 4, 2021August 5, 2021 by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Michael Annett, driver of the Pilot Flying J Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, has been medically cleared by NASCAR to return to the seat of the No. 1 car for the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET), the team announced Wednesday. Annett rejoins JRM’s four-car lineup after successful surgery to repair a stress fracture in the 35-year-old’s right femur and the allotted recovery time.

“I can’t thank Dr. Beaver and Dr. Heisel and everyone at OrthoCarolina enough for all of their hard work to get me back in the car in just over three weeks,” Annett said. “The work that Dr. Beaver did during the surgery that allowed me to recover in such a short amount of time is amazing.

“I owe a lot to Austin (Dillon) and Josh (Berry) for filling in for me for those two races, but I cannot wait to be back at the track with my guys and set up a great run into the playoffs.”

Berry scored an eighth-place finish substituting for Annett at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while Dillon drove to an 11th-place effort the previous week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This weekend, Berry will accompany the Pilot Flying J team as backup driver for Annett, in the event one is needed.

Annett is currently 11th in the NXS driver point standings and will look to build on eight top-10 finishes this season in the run up to the playoffs. Annett has received a medical waiver from NASCAR regarding his playoff status.

Posted on August 4, 2021August 4, 2021 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver is pitting for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Watkins Glen International.