NASCAR Preview: Watkins Glen Race Weekend
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- Aug 8
- 7 min read
Written by Gabriel Tsui, Ashleigh McGregor & Sean McKean
Following some short track racing at Iowa, all three series travel to upstate New York to the iconic Watkins Glen International.
Watkins Glen is a 2.45-mile (3.94-kilometre) road course that features eight unique corners. With this track a familiarity for most drivers and not being the most technical, expect all three races this weekend to deliver on expectations.
Below are the start times for each race plus lap count:
Trucks: Friday, 8 August, 17:00 local (22:00 UK) – 72 laps
Xfinity: Saturday, 9 August, 15:00 local (20:00 UK) – 82 laps
Cup: Sunday, 10 August, 14:00 local (19:00 UK) – 90 laps
Below are the defending winners of each race:
Trucks (2021): No. 16 - Austin Hill (Hattori Racing Enterprises)
Xfinity: No. 88 - Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
Cup: No. 17 - Chris Buescher (RFK Racing)
Cup Series: Go Bowling at The Glen Preview
Written by Gabriel Tsui
We enter the 24th race weekend of the season for the NASCAR Cup Series, as the field heads east to Watkins Glen, New York. With William Byron taking the win in Iowa, the No. 24 team retakes the lead in the championship standings, while Ryan Preece closes down the distance between himself and fellow RFK driver Chris Buescher as the regular season approaches its end. Will we see a surprise winner at The Glen, or will we find a race winner strengthening their position in the playoff standings with another win?
The drivers will be driving 90 laps around the short course layout, with 20 laps each in stages one and two, then closing out the race with 50 laps of weaving through The Glen, totalling a distance run of 220.9 miles (355.4 kilometres).
The weather report indicates the weekend will be mostly cloudy, with temperatures hovering around 32 degrees Celsius (89 degrees Fahrenheit), so tyre wear could be a considerable factor throughout the race. The race will commence on the Sunday of August 10th, at 14:00 Eastern (11:00 Pacific, 19:00 British).
Race Predictions
In 2024, Watkins Glen moved out of the month of August for the first time since 1965 and made its first appearance in the Cup Series playoffs. However, schedule realignment moved the track back to the tailend of the regular season. Last year, we saw Chris Buescher complete a last lap move on Shane Van Gisbergen at the inner loop chicane for the race win, but the No. 17 might not be as lucky this time.
SVG put up a huge fight in the previous race, with one single slip up relegating the Kiwi to second place. The Chevys also have a chokehold on the track, as they have won five straight in the state of New York before barely conceding to Buescher and the Fords.
Let’s not sugarcoat or tiptoe around the subject: SVG will win. Not could, not maybe, he will. One gigantic caveat left out from the description of his performance in 2024? He was in a Kaulig car. If SVG can bring a Kaulig to third in qualifying and second place in the race, he can bring a Trackhouse Chevy to victory lane with a ten second lead, barring any mechanical issue.
Three things to look out for
Ryan Preece closing in
Following Iowa, Preece closed down the gap between himself and teammate Chris Buescher to 25 points. Heading into Watkins Glen, however, a different narrative will hold true. Buescher is quite the road course racer, having won the race in 2024 as mentioned above.
Preece is no pushover at road courses either, as he has racked up three consecutive top-fifteen finishes at road courses, and he could very well get on par with Buescher by the end of the weekend.
Byron back on top
The top of the leaderboard finds a familiar face, as William Byron retakes the championship lead from Chase Elliott after conceding the lead in Dover. Byron will need to hold onto his lead for three more races, but that will be difficult with Elliott breathing down his neck still.
If Byron can make a repeat of 2023, he will find a larger cushion between himself and the No. 9 team, who has an up-and-down history at Watkins Glen.
SVG fourth consecutive road course win in the making?
SVG returns to the Glen for another shot after barely missing out on a win in 2024. While on the hunt to tie Denny Hamlin with the most wins this season, he will also be looking to tie Chase Elliott’s in finding his fourth consecutive road course win, only behind Jeff Gordon’s six consecutive.
Xfinity Series: Mission 200 at The Glen Preview
Written by Ashleigh McGregor
Sam Mayer finally got his first win this season,having took the top step in Iowa last weekend. He was the only driver in the top five of the regular season standings to not yet get a win.
This weekend we move to the beautiful state of New York at the Watkins Glen International. A road course ace and a young fan-favourite, this weekend promises sensational racing.
Race Weekend Guide
Stages one and two are 20 laps each, and the final stage will be 42 laps. Drivers will cover a distance of 200.9 miles (323.3 kilometres) over those 82 laps.
Practice is on Saturday August 9th at 09:30 EST (14:30UK), directly followed by one hour of qualifying. The race starts later in the day at 15:00 EST (20:00 UK).
The weather in New York has cooled off a bit with cloudy skies. It’s expected to be 86 degrees Fahrenheit at race start time.
The Zilisch machine
Connor Zilisch has taken the drivers championship lead away from Justin Allgaier and leads the drivers with the most wins this season.
He started the season out great, but as the season progressed, he has truly become a superstar on the track. Last year, he won at Watkins Glen, making a stunning debut in the series that had everyone talking about his future.
With five wins in the bag this year, he will look to repeat history. His focus will be split though, as he takes on a triple header racing in the Xfinity, Trucks and Cup series this weekend. Seeing how he handles this pressure will be very interesting.
Four by four
Four playoff spots remain with only four races left for drivers to move forward to the races they all want to be at. Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray and Harrison Burton hold the remaining four positions.
The chequered flag has not flown for them yet. As drivers currently on the bubble – Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Christian Eckes and Dean Thompson will be giving it their all to take those spots away. The remaining races are at Watkins Glen this weekend, Daytona, Portland and Gateway.
Drivers to watch
Jesse Love finished second last race. He’ll be hoping to continue the momentum after a mid-season drop off.
Austin Hill returns from his one race ban and a slate wiped clean of playoff points. He will want to maximise his performance to earn some back. It should be interesting to see how he handles this on track.
Keep an eye on the Burton cousins as well as Ryan Sieg for the battle of the very last position of the playoffs.
Truck Series: Mission 176 at The Glen Preview
Written by Sean McKean
After a dominant victory from Layne Riggs a few weeks ago in IRP, the Trucks return to a track they haven’t ventured to in four years: Watkins Glen. Given the unknowns heading into this race for a majority of the field, this race promises to deliver a classic for the already memorable 2025 Truck Series season.
Race Predictions
Last road course race in Lime Rock, it was a relatively clean affair – only featuring two cautions for cause. This was a great surprise, but what wasn’t a surprise was Corey Heim’s dominance, who picked up the Connecticut circuit quicker than the rest to take the most dominant win of the season. With this in mind, Corey Heim is the sure-fire pick for New York glory this Friday.
Two storylines to look out for
What’s next for Honeycutt?
In a shock announcement on 5 August, Niece Motorsports announced that Kaden Honeycutt would be leaving the team effective immediately after informing the team that he signed elsewhere for 2026. This was especially shocking considering that Honeycutt is well above the cut-line and able to point his way into the playoffs.
He will still continue to race this weekend but in a much less competitive Young’s Motorsports truck. With Stewart Friesen out for the rest of the season coupled with Honeycutt having signed for “a Toyota team” in 2026, it is reasonable to assume that Honeycutt’s landing spot for the remainder of the year will be here.
A stacked field
There are many proven names in this weekend’s field at Watkins Glen.
With Niece ousting Honeycutt, Connor Zilisch will temporarily fill in the No. 45, whilst Cup driver Ross Chastain will partner him in the No. 44. Over at Spire, Kyle Busch returns for another race in the No. 07 with Sammy Smith alongside him in the No. 7. Rounding out the Chevrolets is Parker Kligerman in the No. 75 – previous road course winner at Mid-Ohio in 2022.
Moving onto the Toyotas, William Sawalich will pull double-duty in the No. 1 TRICON truck. Christopher Bell will also do the same, temporarily filling in for the injured Stewart Friesen in the No. 52. The most shocking announcement was for Brent Crews – who sold all of his dirt and Trans-Am racing equipment to fund his new team, Brent Crews Racing. He will pilot the No. 70.
Lastly, in the Ford camp, Chris Buescher makes his Truck Series debut for ThorSport in the No. 66.
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