“In the Know”
Watkins Glen International
Coming off a rare two-week summer break, drivers and crews are ready to get back in action this weekend at Watkins Glen International. Off weekends are rare in NASCAR, and back-to-back weekends are even more rare, but the longest season in sports got a reprieve as broadcast partner NBC covered the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Now, starting with Watkins Glen, only four races remain before the 16-driver NASCAR Playoffs begin September 5th at Darlington Raceway. There have been 13 different race winners thus far in 2021, leaving just three playoff spots open for a driver to get in on points. The next four races include two road courses, a 2-mile oval and a 2.5 mile superspeedway. If there is another new winner this season, that means one less playoff spot available via points.
The Details
● Event: Go Bowling at The Glen (Round 23 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 8
● Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
● Layout: 7-turn, 2.45-mile road course
● Laps/Miles: 90 laps / 220.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Final Stage: 50 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
What Our Drivers are Saying:
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang
The preponderance of road-course racing in NASCAR is still relatively new, but road-course racing at Watkins Glen isn’t. Despite NASCAR’s recent uptick in road-course racing, does Watkins Glen feel like a comfortable pair of slippers because you’ve been there so often?
“For sure, and it will be nice to know every nook and cranny because we haven’t been there in a little bit. We didn’t go there last year, and going back this year definitely makes it a little bit different because of the fact that you’re not going to have any practice or qualifying. Plus, you took a year off from the racetrack, so it’s not as relevant as somewhere that we raced last year with the notes and the things we have. It’s definitely a racetrack I have a lot of laps at.”
Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Go Bowling Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Are you excited to get to the road course at Watkins Glen after your win and a two-week break?
“I’m really looking forward to getting to Watkins Glen. It’s one of my most confident road courses of all the ones we go to, now. I’m looking forward to going there and being competitive with a little extra incentive coming off the win, and it’s the Go Bowling at The Glen and we’re in the Go Bowling car, so I’m even more excited to go out and give it my all.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You had a nice two-week break, but now we’re back with just four races to go in the regular season. How are you feeling about making your first Cup Series start at Watkins Glen?
“It’s only been two weeks but it feels like forever, so I’m looking forward to getting back to racing. This year, our best results have come on the road courses and now we’ve got two back-to-back, but Watkins Glen is probably lower on the list of my favorite road courses. I’ve only raced there once, so I don’t have a ton of experience there and, like every other track, having no practice will make it that much more challenging because it is a track where the car is maybe a little more important than the driver’s road-course racing ability. I’m going to run the ARCA race on Friday to get some more time on track, learn the turns and try to figure some things out.”
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You’ve raced at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the K&N Pro Series but didn’t get to race there during your rookie Cup Series campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What will it be like racing this weekend without practice or qualifying?
“We always want practice to try things and get used to the track. No matter what it is, practice is always a gain. But being a track we’ve all raced on a pretty decent amount, we all know what we need to bring there. Nothing’s changed a ton about what’s going on at Watkins Glen. So I feel like it’s probably not a huge disadvantage to not be there for a couple of years.”
SHR Stats
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, has made a total of 46 NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses. He has 20 starts at Sonoma, 19 at Watkins Glen, three at the Charlotte Roval, two on the Daytona road course, one at COTA and one at Road America. He has scored two wins – Watkins Glen in 2006 and Sonoma in 2017 – along with 10 top-fives and 23 top-10s with 195 laps led. When Harvick scored his first road-course victory at Watkins Glen in 2006, he had to beat his current team owner to do it. Tony Stewart – the “Stewart” in Stewart-Haas Racing – had won the past two NASCAR Cup Series races at the seven-turn, 2.45-mile road course and was poised to capture a third straight win as he was leading Harvick with four laps to go in the 90-lap race. But Harvick, who had already led once for 24 laps, passed Stewart on lap 87 as the two drag-raced down the frontstretch and into turn one. Harvick held onto the lead despite Stewart in his rearview mirror, earning a margin of victory of .892 of a second.
Sunday’s race will be Cole Custer’s first start at Watkins Glen. The annual August event during Custer’s Rookie of the Year campaign in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it will be his first Cup Series appearance at The Glen, Custer has raced there three times each in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and K&N Pro Series East. In his three Watkins Glen starts in the Xfinity Series from 2017 through 2019, all in the No. 00 SHR Ford, Custer finished in the top-12 in all three, his best resulting in a sixth-place finish in 2018. He debuted with a 12th-place finish in 2017 and added a seventh-place finish in 2019. Custer’s three NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races at The Glen included finishes of fifth from the pole and third from the inside-second-row starting spot in his two most recent visits in 2015 and 2016, respectively. He led 17 laps in the 2015 event.
Chase Briscoe finished sixth in his only NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Watkins Glen. He finished in the top-10 in all but three of the 10 road-course races in which he competed in the Xfinity Series, including a victory in last year’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Aric Almirola has 26 road-course starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. He has two top-10 finishes with a best of eighth at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, four top-20s at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International with a best finish of 12th, three top-20s on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval with a best finish of 14th, and a top-12 finish in the Feb. 9 Busch Clash on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course – his best road-course finish of the year.
Of Special Interest
Be sure to check out our merch hauler at Watkins Glen International this weekend! If you can’t attend in person, you can shop anytime at store.stewarthaasracing.com
