For the third time in the last six races, the NASCAR Cup Series will compete on a road course.
Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen (coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on USA Network) is the fifth and final road course race of the regular season.
Shane van Gisbergen seeks his fourth consecutive road course victory. He also looks to make amends for losing last year’s race at Watkins Glen on the last lap.
With some help from Racing Insights, here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into the race on the 2.45-mile road course in New York.
23XI Racing — Good news: Bubba Wallace has scored three consecutive top-10 finishes, including his win at Indianapolis. … Tyler Reddick’s 15 top-10 finishes on road courses in the Next Gen era is tied with Chris Buescher for most among all drivers. … Reddick has scored 138 points in road course races this season, second only to Shane van Gisbergen’s 194 points. Bad news: Riley Herbst has one top-20 finish in the last 12 races.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith finished fifth at Watkins Glen last year. … Todd Gilliland has three top 10s in the last eight road course races. Bad news: Noah Gragson’s 29th-place result at Iowa was his best finish in the last five races. … Gragson has fourth finishes of 30th or worse in the last five road course races. … Smith has six finishes of 22nd or worse in the last eight races.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer’s only top-10 finish this season came on the road course at Mexico City when he placed eighth. Bad News: Custer has not started better than 23rd on a road course this season. … Custer has not scored any stage points since Martinsville in the spring.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron took back the points lead from teammate Chase Elliott after winning at Iowa. … Byron has scored a series-high 230 stage points (next is Ryan Blaney at 191 stage points). … Byron has eight top 10s, including two wins, in the last 11 road course starts. … Elliott leads all drivers with 11 top-five finishes on road courses in the Next Gen era. … Elliott has finished in the top five in 56% of his road course starts. … The organization has won five of the last six races at Watkins Glen, getting two wins each from Elliott and Kyle Larson and one from Byron. … Alex Bowman’s 13 top-10 finishes this season trails only Larson, who has 14 top 10s to lead the series. … Bowman has six top-10 results in the last eight races. … Hendrick Motorsports is the only organization to have at least one car finish in the top 10 in all 23 races this year. Bad news: Larson has finished 32nd or worse in three of the four road course events this season. … All seven of Elliott’s road course wins came before the Next Gen car in 2022.
Crew chief Rudy Fugle said last week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the No. 24 team was “starving” for a win.
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has finished in the top 15 in three of the last five Watkins Glen races. Bad news: Stenhouse has one top-20 finish in the last eight races. … Stenhouse has not started better than 30th in the last nine races. … Stenhouse has four finishes of 27th or worse in the last six road course races.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Chase Briscoe has finished second in three of the last four races (Sonoma, Dover and Iowa). … Christopher Bell has three top-two finishes in the last five road course races. … Bell, who won at COTA in March, is the only driver to have won a Cup road course race this season other than Shane van Gisbergen… Bell has three top 10s in four Watkins Glen starts. … Bell ranks first in restarts on road courses this season. … Nine of Denny Hamlin’s 21 career top-10 finishes on road courses have come at Watkins Glen. … Ty Gibbs has five top-five finishes in his last 11 starts on road courses. … Gibbs has 12 top-10 starts in the last 15 races. Bad news: Bell’s average finish in the last nine races is 15.2 (his average finish in the first 14 races of the season was 10.8).
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has two top-five finishes in the last three races at Watkins Glen. … Allmendinger’s average finish of 10.8 at Watkins Glen is his best among active tracks. … Allmendinger has six finishes of sixth or better in his last 11 Cup starts on road courses. … Allmendinger ranks second in the series in passing and restarts on road courses. Bad news: Ty Dillon has not placed better than 15th in 29 Cup road course starts.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has three top-15 finishes in the last five races. … Nemechek placed sixth at Mexico City, his best finish in a Cup road course race. … Erik Jones’ 16th-place result at Iowa snapped a a streak of four consecutive finishes of 25th or worse. Bad news: Jones placed 27th or worse in three of the last four Watkins Glen races. … Jones has no top-10 finishes in the last 16 road course races.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Both of Kyle Busch’s top-five finishes this season have come on road courses (5th at COTA and 5th at Chicago Street Race). … Austin Dillon placed 10th last week at Iowa for his first top 10 since early May. Bad news: The organization has not led a lap in the last nine races. … Busch has not led a lap in the last 11 races. … Dillon has never placed better than 15th in 10 Cup starts at Watkins Glen.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware’s most recent top-30 finish was 26th at Chicago Street Race last month. Bad news: Ware has four consecutive finishes of 32nd or worse.
RFK Racing — Good news: Brad Keselowski has seven top-10 finishes in the last 11 races after having no top 10s in the first 12 races of the year. … Chris Buescher, who holds the final playoff spot, won last year’s race at Watkins Glen. … Buescher is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all three races at Watkins Glen in the Next Gen era. … Fifteen of Buescher’s 52 top-10 finishes in the Next Gen era (28.8%) have come on road courses. … Ryan Preece, the first driver below the cutline, has scored back-to-back top-five finishes. … Preece was ninth at Watkins Glen last year for his best result there in four starts. Bad news: Keselowski has not had a top-10 finish in his last 19 starts on road courses.
Ryan Preece trails RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher by 23 points heading into Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen on USA Network.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell has two top-five finishes in the four road course races this season. … McDowell has two top 10s in the last three races at Watkins Glen. … Spire Motorsports placed all three of its cars in the top 10 last year at Watkins Glen, led by Carson Hocevar’s third-place finish. Bad news: Justin Haley has not finished better than 18th in four Cup starts at Watkins Glen. … Hocevar has placed 32nd or worse in the last three Cup road course races.
Multiple Cup drivers will do double duty this weekend at Watkins Glen International.
Team Penske — Good news: This weekend Joey Logano will become the 13th driver in NASCAR history to make 600 consecutive Cup starts. … Ryan Blaney has scored three top 10s in a row, the first time he’s done that this season. Bad news: Logano has not finished better than ninth in the last nine races. … Logano’s lone road course Cup win came in 2015 at Watkins Glen. … Logano has not led a lap in the last five races, his longest drought of the season. … Austin Cindric has only one top-10 finish since his win at Talladega in April.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen goes for his fourth consecutive road course victory after wins at Mexico City, Chicago Street Race and Sonoma. … Only Jeff Gordon (six consecutive road course wins) and Chase Elliott (four) have won at least four in a row. … van Gisbergen also won the pole for each of the last three road course races. … van Gisbergen has scored six consecutive top 10s on road courses, the longest active streak in the series. … van Gisbergen ranks first in speed, long run and passing on road courses this season. … Ross Chastain won the pole and finished fourth at Watkins Glen last year. … Connor Zilisch will make his fourth start of the season, driving the No. 87 car. … Zilisch won from the pole in both the ARCA and Xfinity races last year at Watkins Glen. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has one finish better than 25th in the last six races. … Suarez has one top-10 finish in the last 16 road course races. … Chastain has five finishes of 24th or worse in the last seven races.
Chris Buescher passed Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap to win last year’s race on the New York road course.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry’s 13th-place finish at Sonoma last month was his best result in nine Cup road course starts. Bad news: Berry has finished 22nd or worse in six of the last 10 races.
