Next Race: GoBowling at The Glen The Place: Watkins Glen International The Date: Sunday, August 5 The Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: NBC, 2 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 220.5 miles (90 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 40), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 90) “Big 3” Seem to be Unstoppable If anyone thought NASCAR’s “Big 3” may slow in the summer heat or suffer from any Victory Lane doldrums, these three drivers proved again over the weekend they are on top of their game. Kyle Busch won his sixth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday with fellow championship contender, six-time winner Kevin Harvick managing a top five after an inspired final laps run up through the field. And the third member of the Big 3 trio, Martin Truex Jr., shows up at Watkins Glen International as the defending winner of this weekend’s road course race, the Go Bowling at the Glen (Sunday, August 5 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch has four road course wins – two at Sonoma and two at Watkins Glen – and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at The Glen last summer. Two more times he has led the most laps in the Monster Energy Series race (in 2011 and 2012) on the 2.45-mile circuit and finished third and seventh, respectively. He has 11 top-10 finishes at Watkins Glen in 13 races making him the highest-rated driver there with more than one start. His victory Sunday gives Busch eight top-five finishes in the last nine races in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, including three wins (Charlotte, Chicago and Pocono). During that time he’s led 538 laps and at least led one lap in eight of the last 10 races. Next Up: Watkins Glen With Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch taking trophies in the last two Monster Energy Series races, the third member of the “Big 3,” Martin Truex Jr. may legitimately feel his time in Victory Lane is next. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota is the defending winner at Watkins Glen after all, and has top-10 finishes in his last two races there – seven top 10s in 12 starts total. History shows that any repeat win at The Glen is quite difficult however. No current driver has ever accomplished the feat. Cup favorite Marcos Ambrose, who returned to race in his native Australia, is the last to win back-to-back races in 2011-12. Although Truex finished a subpar-for-him 15th at Pocono on Sunday, he has nine top-five finishes in the last 11 races including three wins. Since his Pocono win earlier this summer (eight races ago) he has led 370 laps or 57 percent of the laps he’s led on the year. Back in Sync Of the primary championship challengers this season, Kevin Harvick is still looking for his Watkins Glen groove. He won the Monster Energy Series race back in 2006 and the Xfinity Series race here in 2007, but the 2014 Cup champ has only two top-10 finishes in the last six Watkins Glen Cup races. In total, he has eight top-10 finishes in 17 starts at The Glen. Harvick, however, is clearly putting up career numbers in 2018. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has seven top-five finishes in the last eight races, including a win at New Hampshire two weeks ago and a pair of runner-up finishes at Michigan and the series’ first road course in Sonoma. Youth Movement Rising To Top NASCAR’s “Youth Movement” was loud and proud at Pocono last weekend with five drivers aged 26 or younger finishing among the top-seven – three of them (runner-up Daniel Suarez, third-place Alex Bowman and sixth-place William Byron) scoring career-best finishes. Suarez, 26, in particular, must be excited to head to upstate New York this weekend as Watkins Glen is where he scored his first ever top five and previous career-best of third-place in the Monster Energy Series season last year. Because of that, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is technically the top-ranked driver in Sunday’s field. This will be Bowman’s first start at The Glen since 2015. He has finishes of 36th and 29th in two previous non-Hendrick Motorsports team entries. The 25-year-old was ninth at Sonoma in the No. 88 Hendrick Chevrolet earlier this year. The Glen will be a relatively blank slate for Byron, 20, who is making his Cup track debut. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was 10th in the Xfinity Series race here last year. Erik Jones, 22, who secured his 2018 Playoff position with a win at Daytona in July, finished fifth at Pocono last week. He was 10th at Watkins Glen in his Cup debut last year but was seventh at Sonoma earlier this season in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He even did a road course driving school early in the summer to better prepare for the two venues. Chase Elliott, 22, who finished seventh at Pocono, has two finishes of 13th at The Glen but the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver was fourth at Sonoma earlier this season. Return To Glory Desired Perhaps no one gets as excited about the season implications and possibilities that exist on the scenic Watkins Glen road course as veteran A.J. Allmendinger, who had his Playoff ticket punched at the track back in 2014 and is considered a favorite here. The driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet has six top-10 finishes in his last seven races at The Glen and has accomplished the impressive task: finishing every single lap (812) of every race he’s competed in there. Allmendinger scored a season-best finish of third-place at Daytona in July and was 14th at Pocono last weekend. He’s eager to improve on a disappointing 38th-place finish at Sonoma earlier this year – having to retire after only 33 laps because of engine woes. Hamlin Looking To Clinch With Win Veteran driver Denny Hamlin shows up at The Glen feeling optimistic about his chances there, having shown himself a true road course favorite in recent years. He won there in 2016 and was fourth last year, snapping a streak of six straight finishes of 19th or worse. Hamlin comes to New York after a 10th-place finish at Pocono, where he led five laps. It was his first top 10 in the last four races, but the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota remains solidly in the Playoff top 16 – but a win would definitely assure him of his postseason slot. He’s 11th in the championship standings, six points ahead of Ryan Blaney and 31 ahead of Aric Almirola. Time To Shine Brad Keselowski is looking for his first win at the historic Watkins Glen course, but the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford has shown great promise. He’s led 75 laps and scored a pair of top-10 finishes in the last three races there. He had a string of three consecutive runner-up showings between 2011-13 and won the 2013 Xfinity Series race at the Glen. The 2012 Monster Energy Series champion seems due for a good run after three finishes of 32nd or worse in the last four races, including a 38th-place finish at Pocono last week. His best results are a runner-up at Atlanta the second race of the season and a third-place at Kentucky three weeks ago. His Team Penske teammate Joey Logano won at Watkins Glen in 2015 and was runner-up in 2016. All three Penske drivers are securely ranked among the Playoff eligible – Logano is fifth in the championship standings and has a win at Talladega, Keselowski is ninth in the standings with an 18-point edge over Kyle Larson and Blaney is 12th, 25 points ahead of Almirola. Next Race: Zippo 200 The Place: Watkins Glen International The Date: Saturday, August 4 The Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: NBC, 2:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 200.9 miles (82 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 40), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 82) Sound The Bell Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell has quickly elevated himself to be one of the favorites to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series title this season as the 23-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, rattled off his third consecutive win last weekend at Iowa Speedway. With four total wins on the year (Richmond, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Iowa-2), the Sunoco Rookie standout now has the opportunity to etch his name in the record books twice with a win this weekend in the Zippo 200 at the Glen. Catch Bell in action at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, August 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90). If Bell takes home the checkered flag at Watkins Glen, it will be his fourth consecutive win this season. The feat would tie him with Sam Ard for the series-most consecutive wins. Ard set the record 35 years ago, back in 1983, when he won four straight at South Boston, Martinsville, Rougemont, and Charlotte Motor Speedway. A win this weekend at Watkins Glen would also be Bell’s fifth on the year; which would tie him with Greg Biffle (2001), Kyle Busch (2004) and Carl Edwards (2005) for the series-most wins by a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender with five victories each. Bell currently holds the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings lead by 16 points over JR Motorsport’s driver Elliott Sadler in second, and 18 points ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer in third. Through 19 starts, the rising star has posted four wins (series-most), 12 top fives (series-most) and four stage wins (tied with Sadler and Justin Allgaier for series-most). On top of all that, he has accumulated 24 Playoff points thus far this season; which is 16 more than his nearest competitor – Justin Allgaier with eight Playoff points. Bell will have his work cut out for him this weekend, as it will be his series track debut at Watkins Glen International. A dirt racer at heart, Bell has limited experience on road courses in NASCAR’s national series. His lone Xfinity Series career road course start came at Road America last season, where he started fourth but finished 19th. Monster Energy Drivers Join In At The Glen With the regular season coming to a close soon, the stakes are high to perform in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, so several drivers thought it might be wise to get some extra track time by pulling double-duty this weekend and competing in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the Zippo 200 at the Glen on Saturday, August 4 (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, the Go Blowing at The Glen on Sunday, August 5 (at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In total six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship contenders are entered in Saturday’s Xfinity race: Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, and AJ Allmendinger. Back-To-Back Road Courses Up Next For Xfinity The NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contenders really have some challenging tracks up next with the series scheduled to go to back-to-back road courses at Watkins Glen International and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Just seven races remain in the regular season, and the series has seen 12 different winners in the first 19 races. Will we see a 13th or 14th over these next two weeks? Quite possibly. Consider this…over the last eight seasons, road courses have been the tracks that brought seven drivers their first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win: 2017 – Jeremy Clements (Road America), 2016 – Michael McDowell (Road America) and Justin Marks (Mid-Ohio), 2014 – Chris Buescher (Mid-Ohio) and Brendan Gaughan (Road America), 2013 – AJ Allmendinger (Road America), and 2012 – Nelson Piquet Jr. (Road America). Watkins Glen International has also been the home to first-time winners in the Xfinity Series – Bill Elliott (1993) and Ron Fellows (1998) both got their first Xfinity wins at The Glen. Watkins Glen is a multi-elevation road course that has seven turns and measures 2.45-miles in length located in the state of New York. A total of 14 different drivers have won at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, led by Terry Labonte and Marcos Ambrose with four wins each. Next week’s track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is quite different from Watkins Glen. Nestled in the rolling hills of Ohio, Mid-Ohio is a multi-elevation road course that has 13 turns and measures 2.258 miles. What’s even more interesting about Mid-Ohio is that in the five previous Xfinity races at the track there, there hasn’t been a repeat winner. Next Race: Corrigan Oil 200 The Place: Michigan International Speedway The Date: Saturday, August 11 The Time: 1 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 200 miles (100 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 100) source – NASCAR communications
