Kyle Busch’s quest for wins in four consecutive races ended when his car ran out of gas in the closing laps at Pocono last weekend. Busch will be in great position to start a new streak this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit heads to Watkins Glen for the second road race of the season. Having already won at Sonoma, Busch gets the chance to sweep the road courses in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355. Busch has won at Watkins Glen twice (2008, 2013), and he is the last Sprint Cup driver to sweep the road courses (’08).
Similar to last season, road-course master AJ Allmendinger needs a win to make the Chase. He got it last season at the 2.45-mile course, holding off Marcos Ambrose for his first Sprint Cup victor. His history at the upstate New York track shows he is a force to be reckoned with. In six career starts at Watkins Glen, Allmendinger boasts one win, two top fives and four top 10s. He claims the second-best average finish (7.8333), third-best driver rating (100.5), third-best average running position (12.288) and fourth-fastest green flag speed (120.332 mph).
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If the season ended today, the following winless drivers ranked 11th through 16th on the Chase grid would make NASCAR’s playoffs: Jamie McMurray (11th, +97); Jeff Gordon (12th, +83); Paul Menard (13th, +57); Ryan Newman (14th, +50); Clint Bowyer (15th, +40); and Kasey Kahne (16th, +25). McMurray and Menard would make the Chase for the first time in their careers. Kahne needs solid finishes in the final five races before the Chase because he will get bumped if/when Busch enters the top 30 in points.
The Xfinity Series will also run at The Glen this weekend, while the Camping World Trucks Series takes the week off. Practices begin for Sprint Cup and Xfinity on Friday with qualifying for both series on Saturday.
NASCAR at Watkins Glen time, schedule
(All times Eastern)
Friday
11:30 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
1 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBCSN
3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN
4:40 p.m..: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
Saturday
11:15 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN
1:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN
3 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Zippo 200 (82 laps, 200.9 miles), NBCSN
Sunday
2 p.m., Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It at The Glen, NBCSN
Sprint Cup: 2014 Watkins Glen race recap
Allmendinger held the lead on the final green-white-checkered restart, but Ambrose, who has two wins at Watkins Glen, charged past him in Turn 5 to take the lead. Allmendinger stayed on Ambrose’s bumper and got back by him in Turn 6 as the two drivers bumped and banged often on the final two restarts and over the last few laps.
Ambrose finished second, followed by Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson and Carl Edwards. Allmendinger became the 12th different winner last year and shook up the Chase standings.
The race was red-flagged for 1 hour, 20 minutes for a big crash between Newman and Michael McDowell that damaged a guardrail and fence.
Allmendinger was suspended in 2012 for failing a NASCAR drug test and wound up losing his ride at Penske Racing. He drove for two different teams last year — he won two Nationwide races for Penske — before landing a full-time ride for this season with JTG Daugherty.
This season, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon will attempt to get back to dominating the seven-turn track. Stewart owns a track-record five wins (2002, 2004-05, 2007, 2009), while Gordon is second with four (1997-99, 2001). “Smoke” needs a visit to victory lane in the next five races to make the Chase. At 12th on the grid, a comfortable 83 points above the cutoff line, Gordon will likely make the Chase, but a DNF could put the No. 24 driver’s postseason chances in jeopardy.
2014 Watkins Glen race results
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (6) Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 90 laps, 129.9 rating, 48 points, $214,173.
2. (2) Ambrose, Ford, 90, 130.9, 43, $192,745.
3. (5) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 90, 117.2, 41, $133,450.
4. (23) Larson, Chevrolet, 90, 80, 40, $142,470.
5. (16) Edwards, Ford, 90, 98.9, 40, $127,150.
6. (11) Logano, Ford, 90, 89.1, 38, $133,906.
7. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 90, 94.5, 37, $128,598.
8. (28) Greg Biffle, Ford, 90, 89.5, 36, $127,715.
9. (8) Kenseth, Toyota, 90, 102.5, 35, $130,801.
10. (12) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 90, 91.7, 34, $117,865.
11. (7) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 90, 101.3, 33, $92,040.
12. (30) Kahne, Chevrolet, 90, 84.4, 33, $98,065.
13. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 90, 74.7, 31, $109,448.
14. (14) McMurray, Chevrolet, 90, 92.6, 30, $113,354.
15. (22) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 90, 76, 29, $104,523.
16. (31) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 90, 66.4, 28, $123,451.
17. (15) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 90, 60.9, 27, $101,048.
18. (27) Aric Almirola, Ford, 90, 70.2, 26, $114,926.
19. (26) David Ragan, Ford, 90, 58.7, 25, $97,773.
20. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 90, 55.4, 24, $114,340.
21. (43) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 90, 51.7, 23, $84,965.
22. (33) David Gilliland, Ford, 90, 58.3, 22, $94,162.
23. (39) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 90, 45.4, 21, $76,290.
24. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90, 74.9, 20, $84,015.
25. (34) Boris Said, Ford, 90, 42, 19, $76,390.
26. (32) Nelson Piquet Jr., Ford, 90, 47, 0, $72,640.
27. (24) Bowyer, Toyota, 90, 71.5, 17, $110,406.
28. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 90, 95.5, 17, $126,201.
29. (41) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 89, 35.4, 0, $74,590.
30. (40) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 89, 32.3, 0, $81,440.
31. (42) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 88, 38.1, 13, $71,790.
32. (20) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 87, 37.7, 12, $98,779.
33. (38) Alex Kennedy, Chevrolet, accident, 86, 41, 11, $71,415.
34. (1) Gordon, Chevrolet, 86, 114.8, 11, $129,426.
35. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 85, 76.6, 9, $116,548.
36. (36) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 85, 30.4, 8, $70,960.
37. (13) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, accident, 81, 51.6, 0, $104,983.
38. (37) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 78, 28.9, 6, $65,830.
39. (35) Ryan Truex, Toyota, suspension, 69, 44.2, 5, $61,830.
40. (19) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 69, 65, 4, $105,671.
41. (10) Newman, Chevrolet, accident, 55, 69, 3, $61,830.
42. (29) Michael McDowell, Ford, accident, 55, 55.7, 2, $49,830.
43. (18) Cole Whitt, Toyota, accident, 9, 34.3, 1, $46,330.
Race statistics
Average speed of race winner: 90.123 mph.
Time of race: 2 hours, 26 minutes, 48 seconds.
Margin of victory: 1.160 seconds.
Caution flags: Six for 17 laps.
Lead changes: Five among six drivers.
Recent winners at Watkins Glen
2014: Allmendinger
2013: Kyle Busch
2012: Ambrose
2011: Ambrose
2010: Juan Pablo Montoya
Top five current drivers at Watkins Glen since 2010 (five races)
Allmendinger (one win, four top 10s, 5.8 average finish)
Edwards (three top 10s, one pole, 8.0 average finish)
Kyle Busch (one win, four top 10s, one pole, 11.8 average finish)
Truex (three top 10s, 9.0 average finish)
Harvick (two top 10s, 10.4 average finish)
Top five current driver ratings at road courses since 2013 (five races)
Kurt Busch, 111.5
Allmendinger, 109.3
Johnson, 104.7
Bowyer, 99.0
Edwards, 98.0
News and notes
— Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) have been dominant at Watkins Glen International, with each team earning a record six wins at the track, twice as many as any other owner. The two organizations will try to snap the tie in the Cheez-It 355. HMS has won at the 2.45-mile road course with Tim Richmond (1986), Ricky Rudd (1990) and Gordon (1997-99, 2001). JGR has placed two drivers in victory lane: Stewart (2002, 2004-05, 2007) and Kyle Busch (2008, 2013).
— Stewart leads all active drivers in the Sprint Cup Series in average starting position at Watkins Glen with a 6.286 (14 starts).
— Twenty-three of the 32 (71.8 percent) Sprint Cup races at Watkins Glen have been won from a top-10 starting position. The deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Watkins Glen is 18th, by Steve Park in 2000.
Xfinity Series: 2014 Watkins Glen race recap
Ambrose held off Kyle Busch in the closing laps of last season’s Zippo 200 at the Glen to win the series-best fifth road course race of his Xfinity Series career. Logano came home third, followed by pole-winner Keselowski and Kenseth.
This season, neither Ambrose nor Kyle Busch will be competing. Instead, road course ringers Boris Said and Kenny Habul have been brought in for JGR. Logano, Keselowski, Larson and Menard will pull double duty this weekend, while future Hendrick driver Chase Elliott seeks to cut into Chris Buescher’s Xfinity Series points lead.
Over the last four races, Elliott has knocked 16 points off Buescher’s lead but is still looking for his first win this season. His success despite not visiting victory lane is primarily due to his series-leading 15 top 10 finishes through the first 19 races.
Camping World Truck Series
The Truck Series will be back in action Aug. 15 at Michigan with the Careers for Veterans 200 presented by Cooper Standard and Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation.
