Daniel Hemric Qualifies Much Better Than Usual At Bristol

Even though Daniel Hemric has been the second-slowest full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series this year ahead of only Harrison Burton, he has been good at finishing races, so he is still ahead of three drivers in points that have been faster, and he does have a knack for usually finishing better than he […]

Kaz Grala Solid In March Bristol Race, But That Likely Means Little

Kaz Grala has only made one Bristol start in the NASCAR Cup Series in this year's March race, where he finished 19th, but it's hard to draw any conclusions from that race since it was unlike any short track race in NASCAR history. It seems unlikely that this evening's race will be similar to the […]

Noah Gragson Unlikely To Contend As Stewart-Haas Racing Focuses On Chase Briscoe

Although Noah Gragson has won twice at Bristol in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he finished a mere 34th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut there and didn't run much better with an average running position of 30th. Even though the Stewart-Haas Racing cars have tended to have more speed on short tracks than elsewhere, he […]

Austin Dillon Unlikely To Repeat Richmond Feat

Despite the fact Austin Dillon earned a dubious win at Richmond in August, don't expect a repeat performance at Bristol on Saturday evening, as apart from Dillon's Richmond win, the Richard Childress Racing cars have tended to be very slow on short tracks, and he qualified a miserable 30th, his second-worst starting position at the […]

Austin Cindric Not Strong At Bristol But Should Still Advance

Although Austin Cindric's last-lap crash across the finish line with A.J. Allmendinger in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol was one of his most memorable moments, he has seldom contended there at the NASCAR Cup Series level. He has never finished better than five laps down or posted an average running position better […]

Harrison Burton Looks Toward 2025 As Next Year's Deal Is Announced

On Friday, it was announced that Harrison Burton would be driving for AM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025, so now Burton is officially a lame-duck driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, and it seems unlikely he will race there full time again. Given his lame-duck status and given the fact that his […]

Chase Briscoe Likely To Advance To Round Of 12 After Strong Qualifying Run

Although it initially looked like Chase Briscoe's crash at Atlanta would take him out of contention for making the Round of 12, he unexpectedly got a better finish than any of the other playoff contenders at Watkins Glen while also tying for the most points in that race, which placed him tied for 11th with […]

Daniel Suarez Likely Safe In Playoffs After Stage-Point Gamble

Daniel Suarez was one of several playoff contenders who chose to go for stage points at Watkins Glen rather than maximizing his odds of winning. Although he qualified eighth and ran in the top ten for the entire first stage (ultimately finishing fourth in the stage), he and all the other drivers who pitted during […]

Brad Keselowski Struggles As Driver But Wins As Owner At Watkins Glen

Brad Keselowski has mightily struggled on road courses for the past few years, and Sunday's Watkins Glen race was no exception. After a poor qualifying run and two penalties for speeding and a loose tire, Keselowski's team still made an aggressive strategy play in Stage 3 to go extra long on his final set of […]

Austin Cindric Beats Most Playoff Drivers In Second Straight 10th-Place Finish

Austin Cindric backed up his 10th-place finish at Atlanta with another at Watkins Glen on Sunday, placing him three points behind Christopher Bell for the playoff points lead. Although two 10th-place finishes would normally be nowhere near the points lead, he had the great fortune that most of the other playoff contenders either crashed or […]

Ross Chastain's Dominant Run Ultimately Foiled By Stage 2 Caution

Although Ross Chastain has surprisingly lacked speed for most of the season, he had his best run of the year in Sunday's Watkins Glen race. Chastain is not normally a great qualifier, so his pole indicated that he would probably be a significant race contender. He dominated the first two stages and led 51 laps, […]

Alex Bowman's Stage-Point Play Costs Him But Helps His Playoff Position

Although Alex Bowman's fourth-place starting position at Watkins Glen matched his best of the season, he was one of many drivers who elected to go for stage points at the end of Stage 1 even if it took him out of the race for the win later. Bowman remained in fourth for the entirety of […]

Ryan Blaney Likely Safe To Advance In Playoffs Despite Lap 1 Crash

Ryan Blaney, who entered Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen as the playoff points leader, crashed and finished last in an opening-lap crash triggered when Corey LaJoie spun out Kyle Busch. While trying to weave his way through the wrecked cars, he was lightly grazed on the door by John Hunter Nemechek. Although it looked […]

Bubba Wallace Improving On Road Courses But Likely Won't Contend At Watkins Glen

Road courses have always been Bubba Wallace's Achilles heel in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he has only achieved one top-five and two top-10 finishes in 30 road-course starts, with those coming on the Indianapolis and Charlotte rovals that are quite different from a natural road course like Watkins Glen. Having said that, he's definitely […]

Daniel Suarez's Momentum And Watkins Glen Record Bode Well For Playoffs

Although Daniel Suarez is not a lock to advance in the playoffs by any means, it's looking pretty good for him despite how slow he was for most of the season. His second-place finish at Atlanta put him 22 points above the cutline and now he is going to Watkins Glen, where he starts eighth […]

Juan Pablo Montoya Returns To NASCAR But Is Well Past His Prime

Juan Pablo Montoya makes his return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in a decade at Watkins Glen, which brought a lot of renewed attention to his career and legacy. Although many ignorant fans reduced his career to little more than crashing into a jet dryer in the 2012 Daytona 500, it's […]

Road Courses A Low-Key Strength For Corey LaJoie

Although Corey LaJoie has caught more heat for his performance than any driver in a long time, road courses have been one of the sole bright spots for LaJoie this year as he gave Spire Motorsports its then-best qualifying run of fifth at Circuit of the Americas and scored his best-ever driver rating on a […]

Brad Keselowski In Danger Of Missing The Round Of 12

Brad Keselowski's season has been fairly underrated as he currently leads the NASCAR Cup Series in pass differential with 363, which is not something you would likely deduce by the eye test. However, even though he's probably been a top 12 this season, his hopes of advancing to the Round of 12 do not look […]

Road Courses Remain Erik Jones' Achilles Heel

Erik Jones has had a fairly disastrous 2024 season, as he has failed to lead a lap, and his only top-10 finish came 27 races ago in the Daytona 500. Don't expect that to change at Watkins Glen, where Jones starts 25th. Although he did have two top-five finishes there with Joe Gibbs Racing, since […]

Carson Hocevar Qualifies Poorly But Should Deliver Another Solid Finish

Carson Hocevar looks poised to win the NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year battle even though Josh Berry has had a faster car mainly because Berry has been the most crash-prone driver on the circuit while Hocevar has been surprisingly clean. He has been delivering consistent finishes with clocklike regularity as he has only […]

Daniel Hemric Could Benefit From Shane van Gisbergen's Setup Notes At Watkins Glen

Daniel Hemric starts 27th for Sunday's Watkins Glen race. He has only raced at this track once in the NASCAR Cup Series with the Gen 6 car in 2019, where he crashed and finished six laps down. Even in the Xfinity Series, he has never registered a top-10 finish, but he did run better as […]

Noah Gragson Qualifies Well But Probably Won't Sustain It

Despite not being particularly noted as a road racer, Noah Gragson delivered an unexpected ninth-place qualifying run for the lame-duck Stewart-Haas Racing team at Watkins Glen on Saturday. He surprisingly outqualified most of the pre-race favorites. However, he has never finished better than 14th in a road course in the NASCAR Cup Series and he's […]

Austin Cindric Weaker On Road Courses Than Advertised

Austin Cindric has a reputation as a road course specialist that is not entirely warranted. Although he was generally very good in his NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses in 2021 and 2022, he has only managed two top ten finishes in the nine road course races since. It seems he may have had […]

Harrison Burton Not A Noted Road Racer

Harrison Burton did not get the good luck he needed at Atlanta to have any realistic chance of advancing in the NASCAR playoffs, but he probably wouldn't have been able to do it even if his Team Penske satellite team had dominated with the official Penske teams since Watkins Glen has never been a strong […]

Ryan Blaney Unlikely To Run Well At Watkins Glen

Ryan Blaney has never been very good on road courses relative to his performance on other tracks and this trend has been increasingly pronounced with the Next Gen chassis. He has never finished in the top five or seriously contended on any road or street course with this chassis. In his last 13 races on […]

Ty Gibbs Sits On Playoff Bubble But Was The Fastest Driver

In one of Toyota's least competitive races of the season, Ty Gibbs was their primary bright spot at Atlanta on Sunday. He vastly outran the other Toyota drivers and scored three of Toyota's six stage points. Gibbs first took the lead when he and Bubba Wallace stayed out of the pits during the caution for […]

Chase Elliott Does What Was Needed At Atlanta

Chase Elliott had a strong but somewhat anonymous run at Atlanta, spending most of the race in the back half of the top 10 on a day when all the Hendrick Motorsports cars were fast, but none of them seemed to have winning speed. Elliott had an extremely consistent run, finishing seventh in Stage 1, […]

Austin Cindric Wins Stage 2 At Atlanta In Best Career Drive

Although Austin Cindric came up short at Atlanta, he had probably his best ever NASCAR Cup Series run on a day that the three Team Penske teammates dominated in general. After finishing second to his teammate Ryan Blaney in the first stage, he outdueled Alex Bowman early in Stage 2 to take the lead, which […]

Harrison Burton's Playoff Cinderella Story Probably Ends With Last-Lap Crash

Harrison Burton's Penske satellite operation at Wood Brothers did benefit somewhat from Penske's unbeatable speed on Sunday at Atlanta with a 16th-place average running position (one of Burton's best of the season), but admittedly he was nowhere near as fast as the three Team Penske drivers, who each won a stage and had three of […]

Chase Briscoe's Stage 1 Crash Likely Eliminates Him From Round Of 12

Chase Briscoe was always going to be a playoff longshot because he has below average speed this year and even his rookie teammate Josh Berry has generally been faster. Briscoe likely needed a lot of luck to advance in the playoffs, but he did not get that in yesterday's Atlanta race when Kyle Larson hit […]