Michael McDowell Starts Ninth At Daytona

Michael McDowell's greatest moment of triumph was on this very track. He won the 2021 Daytona 500 by leading the lap that mattered. However, the Front Row Motorsports driver does tend to perform well on the 2.5-mile course. He did finish seventh in this year's Daytona 500. That goes along with top-tens at Darlington and […]

Chris Buescher Has One Last Shot At Daytona

Chris, or Christopher, Buescher has one last shot at Daytona to make the playoffs. This goes for several drivers obviously. However, Buescher will begin eighth on Saturday night with a bit of success historically on courses like this superspeedway. The RFK Racing driver is in better form too with three top-tens in his last four […]

Kevin Harvick In Seventh Heaven As Playoff Chase Beckons

Kevin Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford went from missing the playoffs to two wins in the span of a couple weeks. The No. 4 car will be inside Row 4 for the Coke Sugar Zero 400 (seventh). Harvick managed to stay around the top-ten recently at Atlanta which could help some at Daytona. Though […]

Tyler Reddick Looks To Bounce Back At Daytona

Tyler Reddick has been great on road courses lately but the Richard Childress Racing driver has been less so elsewhere. He has the two wins at Indianapolis and Road America plus a seventh at Watkins Glen. However, a spattering of outside top-20 results on courses with only right turns is a little concerning. Other than […]

Christopher Bell Begins Fifth At Daytona Saturday

Christopher Bell has been one of the most consistent drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing all season. On Saturday night, he starts the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from the fifth position. Bell and his No. 20 car have just one win on the season but 14 top-ten results along with seven top-fives. Bell has five top-12 […]

Daniel Suarez Gets Boosted To Fourth For Daytona

Daniel Suarez, and not Ross Chastain, will be the highest placed TrackHouse Racing driver to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night. Suarez and his No. 99 car will start fourth based on a NASCAR formula that emphasized recent results. Qualifying just was never in the cards after waves of thunderstorms on Friday. […]

Joey Logano Begins Daytona Third On Saturday

Saturday nights are meant for racing and Joey Logano knows this well. The Team Penske driver hopes to snag win number three on the season at Daytona. He begins third and unlike previous years with "restrictor plate" racing, the Next-Gen car is a bit different. Keep the car on the track is more of a […]

Chase Elliott Starts Outside Row One Saturday

Chase Elliott gets a nice boost starting second for Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver got nudged off line narrowly by Kyle Larson just missing out on a win at Watkins Glen. The good news is that he still finished fourth. Elliott has produced points consistently all year with […]

Kyle Larson Wins Pole For Daytona Without Driving

Kyle Larson wins the pole for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night without practice or qualifying. Thunderstorms washed out the ability to do much of anything on Friday. Based on a formula that placed emphasis on last week's race results, Hendrick Motorsports benefitted quite well. The 1st, 2nd, and 10th place cars are […]

Kyle Busch Qualifies 10th At Watkins Glen

Kyle Busch had the only Toyota to qualify for the last round of qualifying. He ended up tenth suffering from engine issues which seemed to be a theme. Toyota had just two cars in the top-20 (Ty Gibbs - 16th). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had a "hard as hell" year and the lack […]

Daniel Suarez Begins Ninth At Watkins Glen

Daniel Suarez got to the final round of qualifying and looked like his TrackHouse Racing car could wind up in the top five. That did not materialize as Suarez fell more than a second off the pace of Kyle Larson. Suarez's No. 99 car started slow and never truly recovered bleeding time on every turn. […]

Austin Cindric Fades A Bit Late In Qualifying Saturday

Austin Cindric faded a little later in his qualifying lap on Saturday as he lost even more time compared to Chris Buescher. The Team Penske driver and his No. 2 car dropped six to seven tenths of a second over the final four turns. It felt like he was a little late particularly in turns […]

Chris Buescher Starts Seventh At Watkins Glen

For now, we will still call him Chris Buescher (sorry Dale Jr.). That being said, the Ford driver begins seventh but did drop about a half second on the second half of his qualifying lap Saturday. That was a bit disappointing because it looked like he might end up on Row 1 at first. Buescher […]

AJ Allmendinger Can Be A Ringer At Watkins Glen

One of the real wild cards for the race at Watkins Glen may just be AJ Allmendinger. The No. 16 Chevy driver from Kaulig Racing starts sixth and again the racers from the top six positions often have the best chance to win over the past decade or so at The Glen. That said, Allmendinger […]

Tyler Reddick Right Where He Wants To Be

Tyler Reddick has won two road courses this year. He finished tenth in his only appearance at Watkins Glen last year. With a faster race car on courses with left and right turns, Reddick has been even more formidable. He won at Indianapolis while leading 38 laps. Reddick is capable of holding most anyone off […]

William Byron Steams Into Fourth In Qualifying

Putting aside what happened later on Saturday, William Byron's No. 24 looked great in qualifying for Watkins Glen. He will start fourth for the Go Bowling at The Glen and could be a major factor in a race in what feels like months. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver does have four top-12 results in his […]

Michael McDowell Blazing His Own Trail In Qualifying

Michael McDowell with the Next-Gen car on road courses has been surprisingly good. Lately, he has run well at quite a few tracks. McDowell and his Front Row Motorsports car surprised the field and pundits by qualifying third for the Go Bowling at The Glen. McDowell was a bit slow in the practice session some […]

Kyle Larson Nearly Takes Pole At Watkins Glen

Kyle Larson's car looked as fast as it has in months on Saturday as he qualified second for the Go Bowling at The Glen. His 70.516 second lap probably would have been good enough for the pole if not for Elliott. It was quite the day for Hendrick Motorsports as the top three cars would […]

Chase Elliott Snags The Pole At Watkins Glen

Chase Elliott found a way to nab another pole at Watkins Glen on Saturday. It was not all great but Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports racing car edged Kyle Larson by 0.039 seconds to start from the top spot on Sunday. When one thinks about it, on road courses, it is those top five or […]

Kimi Raikkonen Handled NASCAR Car Well In Qualifying

Granted, the Finnish Formula 1 driver will start 27th on Sunday but his TrackHouse Racing car may afford him the ability to move up some positions at the very least. His No. 91 Chevy showed some flashes of speed in practice and though he was 20th there, enough adjustments could be made to get his […]

Ryan Blaney Starts 26th On Sunday At The Glen

This was probably not how Ryan Blaney drew it up for Sunday. He starts 26th at "The Glen". The No. 12 Ford just could not accelerate properly out of most of the turns. One could see Blaney just kept bleeding time. His practice laps were not that much better. Now, 1.25 MPH slower does not […]

Martin Truex Jr. Mired In 25th After Qualifying

It was mostly a nightmare once again for the Toyota cars as Martin Truex Jr. will start 25th on Sunday. The Joe Gibbs Racing car just could not generate enough lap speed to do well in qualifying. This felt like a familiar refrain with the Next-Gen car. Road courses and Toyota have mostly not been […]

Joey Logano Begins Way Back In 20th At Watkins Glen

Joey Logano led a ton of laps and just could not win last week. This week, he begins way back in 20th for Watkins Glen. The twist is the Team Penske driver may be better off. Logano has finished in the top-ten in eight of the past 16 road races he has entered. While the […]

Ross Chastain May Be Risky At Watkins Glen

Ross Chastain fell back a bit and wound up qualifying 18th for Sunday at Watkins Glen. That was a bit of a shock as Daniel Suarez easily made the top-ten (starting ninth). The TrackHouse Racing driver and his No. 1 car seemed just a little off in the later turns of the lap. That took […]

Ty Gibbs May Surprise A Little On Sunday

Ty Gibbs qualified 16th despite the issues with the Toyota cars. Road courses and Toyota this year do not seem to get along. Gibbs and the 23XI Racing car was one of only two drivers to make the top-20. It was that kind of Saturday. Even Kyle Busch had engine issues along with Christopher Bell. […]

Brad Keselowski Might Have Issues At Watkins Glen

Brad Keselowski did turn in a pretty solid lap on Saturday. That will get him in the top-15 to start the Go Bowling at The Glen. Now, how does his RFK Racing Ford do once the race starts is the question? He is not among the top third when it comes to average finish on […]

Chase Briscoe Could Be In Decent Position For Sunday

Chase Briscoe starts from the 14th position on Sunday for the Go Bowling at The Glen. Briscoe and his Stewart-Haas Ford car finished ninth last year and was in the top five after the second stage. What will happen with the No. 14 this time around? Briscoe will have to find some of the speed […]

Austin Dillon Starts 12th On Sunday At Watkins Glen

Austin Dillon and his Richard Childress Racing Chevy will start Sunday from the 12th position at Watkins Glen. Dillon and the No. 3 car have not had the best results on road courses like "The Glen" however. It will be interesting to see what kind of speed Dillon holds as the runs get longer on […]

Alex Bowman Outside Top Ten Qualifying Saturday

Alex Bowman qualified in 11th on Saturday for Go Bowling at The Glen. Bowman has previously enjoyed a bit of road success on courses with left and right turns. He does have seven top-tens in his last 16 races with an average finish of 13.0. Considering the other Hendrick Motorsports Racing drivers are 1st, 2nd, […]

Sahith Theegala Flashes Last Week At St. Jude

Sahith Theegala showed a glimpse of what his future could be like. When he opened up with a 63 at the St. Jude, that drew a considerable amount of notice. The only problem was Theegala could only manage to go two-under for the final three round. Still, he finished a mere six shots off the […]