Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, the 25th regular-season event of the 2022 campaign.
Where: Watkins Glen, New York Approximate start time: 3 p.m. ET | Full weekend schedule TV/Radio: USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio | Full TV schedule The purse: $6,664,145 Forecast: Chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 7 a.m. ET. Partly sunny, with a high near 83 degrees, according to NOAA.gov | Weather tracker Race distance: 90 laps | 220.5 miles Stages: 20 | 40 | 90 Pit-road speed: 40 mph Caution car speed: 45 mph The Glen 101: Get the full lowdown Starting lineup: Where drivers will start Sunday Pit stalls: Where drivers will pit on Sunday
Key things to watch 🔑
Heading into this weekend at Watkins Glen, three of the four road-course races in 2022 have resulted in a driver earning his first career Cup Series victory. Tyler Reddick made it back-to-back wins with his strong performances at Road America and the Indy Road Course, but other than that, there has only been one definitive conclusion — Chevrolet has the speed. Reddick and Trackhouse Racing have been the stars of the season so far on left-and-right circuits, and two-time Watkins Glen winner Chase Elliott is always in the mix in New York. Still fighting for the final playoff position, Ryan Blaney can afford for this trend to continue. But for a trailing Martin Truex Jr., time to catch him is running out. Or will a new driver steal the show this weekend and push them both out of the playoff picture? | See the full playoff picture
Who’s hot? Who’s not?
Vying for a win that would shake the playoff landscape, Chris Buescher has been one of the most consistent challengers at road courses this season. The No. 17 RFK Racing wheelman has three consecutive top-10 finishes at the track type and five total for his career. Lining up seventh to start Sunday’s race, Buescher is a true dark horse contender, though it should not be a huge surprise if he pulls out the win. Keep an eye out for a team that is peaking just in time to make a final playoff push.
After being one of the dominant drivers on road courses over the last decade, Martin Truex Jr. has somewhat taken a backseat to more consistent contenders — at least in the win column. But Truex has starred at The Glen, finishing inside the top three in a remarkable four consecutive races and leading laps in his last six trips here. Needing a spark to clinch that elusive playoff spot, Sunday’s effort will need to be monumental based on Toyota’s road-course woes lately. Truex has five finishes of 13th or worse in his last six road-course events. He will start 25th.
Sprinkled into this weekend’s massive story lines is a historic achievement for the Cup Series: seven international drivers will start the race on Sunday, a series record. Led by Trackhouse Racing featuring Cup Series regular Daniel Suárez (Mexico) and Formula 1 champion Kimi Räikkönen (Finland), the field will be full of accomplished racers from all around the globe. Räikkönen, Daniil Kvyat (Russia), Mike Rockenfeller (Germany), Loris Hezemans (Netherlands) and Kyle Tilley (United Kingdom) will all be vying for their first win in the United States’ premier stock-car racing league. | Full entry list for Sunday’s race
Battling at the top of the leaderboard were a few familiar road-course favorites, led by the usual favorite, Chase Elliott. Elliott charged his way to his third Busch Light Pole Award of the season with a blistering 70.477-second lap time. Reigning course winner Kyle Larson trailed by only 0.039 seconds, locking down a Hendrick Motorsports front row. Michael McDowell, William Byron, two-time road-course winner Reddick and routine contender AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top six. Chevrolet claimed six of the top 10 positions, with the lone Toyota representative being Kyle Busch in 10th. A few incidents in the split practice session led to an engine change for Christopher Bell and hard contact with the wall for Ty Gibbs in the No. 45 Toyota. | Full practice and qualifying recap
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Paint Scheme Preview: Brand new schemes, including PROJECT 91 | Pick a favorite • Power Rankings: Now or never for Martin Truex Jr.? | Updated driver rankings • NASCAR betting: Opening odds for Sunday’s Cup Series race | Underdogs, value bets • Fantasy Fastlane: Tyler Reddick looking for third road-course win | Top plays, sleepers • Bubble Watch: Playoff outlook after Richmond | Read more • Stacking Pennies: Bubba Wallace joins the show | Listen to full interview • At-track photos: See Kimi Räikkönen, others hit the track | Latest photos
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Inspection: No. 5 team penalized for pre-qualifying failures | Read more • The Iceman: Kimi Räikkönen straps in for Cup Series debut | Read more • 16 or more?: What happens if there are more winners than playoff spots? | Read more • Clinching scenarios: How drivers can clinch a playoff position this week | Read more • Turn 1 turmoil?: Drivers chime on expectations for the first turn at The Glen | Read more • Busch on contract talks: Kyle Busch opens up on plans for 2023 and the process | Read more • Larson on Chastain: Reigning champ talks about Ross’ list of enemies | Watch the video • Aric Almirola: Still weighing future in Cup Series, unsure of 2023 return | Read more • Contract extension: Ryan Blaney, Team Penske agree to new terms | Read more • Vivid: Story of how a blind fan experiences NASCAR | Learn about Kolby Garrison • Kurt Busch update: Out for Watkins Glen, Daytona next week | Read more
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• BetMGM: Public predicts end to Harvick’s win streak | Read more • The Action Network: Betting the Harvick vs. Blaney matchup | Read more • Fantasy show: Alan Cavanna, Alex Weaver break down the best bets | Watch the segment • Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ • Going all the way: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
One of the premier road courses in the United States, NASCAR has many memories here.
• Do you remember?: Memorable moments at Watkins Glen | Relive them • Winner, winner: All-time wins at Watkins Glen | Full list • Surprised?: Surprise winners at Watkins Glen | Full list • What a finish: See the amazing battle between Ambrose, Keselowski | Watch the video • Last year: Kyle Larson holds off Chase Elliott to win in 2021 | Full race recap
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Fifteen different drivers won through 24 races, tied for the most ever through 24 races in a season. • Ryan Blaney has earned 53 more points than Martin Truex Jr. in the four races on road courses in 2022. • The pass for the win came in the final 10 laps in 13 of the 24 races in 2022. • Five drivers got their first win in 2022, the most since five in 2011. • Chase Elliott will lock up the Regular Season Championship by leaving Watkins Glen with a 61-point lead over second.
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
• “I feel good about both of these weekends, as good as you can feel. I enjoy coming here and look forward to it. I am excited to see what we’ve got here in a little bit. Our speed at Indy was really good. This place is different than Indy but there are things you can take away from it and apply that make you excited. Daytona, you never know what can happen. We have had success there in years past. The 500 this year our cars were fast but you never know what is going to happen. You can get wiped out in someone else’s mess and there is nothing you can do about it. You have to accept going into that place that it might happen. We will see. We just need to stay in both of these races. Stay in the game. That is all you can plan on doing.” — Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford
• “There’s a lot of history if you look at how far back it goes to when they used to race down into town. Now, there’s obviously a great fan following with the racetrack and the local fans show up and really blow it out. The camping there is amazing. Overall, it’s just a fun track; the fastest road course we go to. It’s definitely unique in its own right, but it’s a really fun track to race on and one I’ve always enjoyed going to.” — Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
• “It’s a new experience. I don’t know how it’s going to go but I think it’s just a nice challenge. We’ve had limited running of the car and we’ll have a very short practice here, so that will be tricky. It’ll be quite a challenge but it’s also exciting. We’ll see where we stack up. There are very fast guys here that have been doing this for years, so it will be very hard. But we’ll see what we can do. I don’t see any risk. … why not [try something new]. What do I have to lose? If I do bad in a NASCAR race or bad in any race, I don’t care because I do it for myself. A good or bad end result, it could happen even if I did 20 races. They all could be bad for many different reasons. I don’t see any negative. I think it’s great what Justin (Marks) and the team is doing giving a chance for all of us from Europe. … NASCAR is more known there, but I’m sure there are a lot of drivers that would like to have a chance to try it. It’s not very easy, so maybe it will open some doors in the future for more chances to try and get more Europeans into the sport.‘’ — Kimi Räikkönen, driver of the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
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