Date: Aug. 20, 2023
Event: Go Bowling at The Glen (Round 25 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International (2.45-mile, seven-turn road course)
Format: 90 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/50 laps)
Race Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports
Stage 1 Winner: Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports
SHR Race Finish:
● Ryan Preece (Started 30th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 90 of 90 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 33rd, Finished 21st / Running, completed 90 of 90 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 27th, Finished 30th / Running, completed 90 of 90 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 26th, Finished 35th / Running, completed 83 of 90 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (10th with 693 points, 168 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (24th with 423 points, 438 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (25th with 413 points, 448 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (31st with 324 points, 537 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Harvick clinched his spot in the NASCAR Playoffs by virtue of William Byron’s victory in the Go Bowling at The Glen. With Harvick 10th in the point standings and Byron being a repeat winner in 2023, Harvick is assured of getting one of the final three spots in the 16-driver playoff field regardless of the outcome of the regular-season finale next week at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Race Notes:
● Byron’s victory in the Go Bowling at The Glen was his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series win, his fifth of the season and his first at Watkins Glen. His margin over second-place Denny Hamlin was 2.632 seconds.
● There was one caution period for a total of four laps.
● All but five of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Martin Truex Jr., remains the championship leader after Watkins Glen with a 39-point advantage over second-place Hamlin.
● DYK?: Tony Stewart, the “Stewart” in Stewart-Haas Racing, leads the NASCAR Cup Series in victories at Watkins Glen with five (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009). He was one win shy of tying the series record for most road-course wins at a single track, a mark held by fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison at Riverside (Calif.) Raceway (1971, 1973, 1975, 1979 and 1981).
Sound Bites:
“I think we’ll just look toward Darlington. Daytona kind of just is what it is. You either come out rolling and have a chance or you don’t, so we’ll go down there and push as hard as we can and be ready for Darlington. We’ve been terrible on the road courses the last two weeks. The month before that, we did good. We had cars that were capable to run in the top-five. As long as it’s an oval, we’ll be fine. I wish we could’ve won a race before now, but we’ve had our opportunities to win a few. We’ve struggled on the road courses, but other than that it’s been OK.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, Aug. 26 at Daytona. The 160-lap race around the 2.5-mile oval begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
