August 11, 2025

Kyle Larson's summer slump continued at Watkins Glen yesterday. After qualifying 26th, Larson had only made up two positions when he spun out on Lap 6. The spin was the result of an unforced error but Larson attributed it to losing his brakes, an unusual circumstance for so early in the race. Although his car did not seem to suffer much cosmetic damage, Larson fell 15 laps down and finished last in a race that had no DNFs. He did manage to double his point total late in the race by setting the fastest lap long after he was out of contention, but he fell 85 points behind his points-leading teammate William Byron, which pretty much takes him out of having any realistic hope for winning the regular season championship.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

August 10, 2025

RFK Racing's Chris Buescher faced plenty of pressure to perform in Sunday's NASCAR Cup race as both last year's Go Bowling at the Glen winner at Watkins Glen International and as the final driver currently in the 2025 playoffs on points. Buescher began this year's Go Bowling at the Glen from the 12th position and hovered close to the top 10 in the first stage until its end. Most drivers went on to have their first pit stop at the end of the first stage, except Buescher, who passed them all by staying off of pit road to win the first stage and collect 10 stage points. Buescher began the second stage as the lead car as he still didn't make his first pit stop of the day, but quickly fell back through the field soon after the stage began. After a caution for debris a few laps later, Buescher took his first pit stop of the day and then maintained a top-15 running position until the end of stage two. The No. 17 Ford driver failed to earn further stage points as a result of finishing 13th at the end of stage two. In the final stage, Buescher made one last pit stop, but also finally gained the track position he needed to set himself up for a strong finish. He eventually made it up to second with a three-second gap behind Shane Van Gisbergen, but Buescher was not fast enough to keep up with Van Gisbergen. Buescher continued to run second until the final lap of the race, where Christopher Bell passed him, sending Buescher to a final finish of third. Although he did not defend his win from one year ago, Buescher obtained his second career top-5 finish and now increases his lead for the final playoff spot to 32 points over his teammate Ryan Preece with two races to go.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

August 10, 2025

Ryan Preece of RFK Racing, the first driver below the playoff cut line on points for the 2025 playoffs, focused his performance at the Go Bowling at the Glen on Sunday on gathering up as many stage points as possible. Preece began the race from the 17th position, and although he kept his car clean in the first stage, he made very little ground on the field until the end of the stage, when most drivers went to pit road before the stage break. As a result of staying off of pit road for the entire first stage, Preece ended it in the third position and gained eight stage points. In the second stage, Preece began the stage on old tires and briefly inherited the lead against his teammate, Chris Buescher, until other drivers with fresher tires kept passing him until a debris caution got him back on the same fuel sequence with other drivers in the field, regaining some track position. Preece went on to finish in the 10th position at the end of the second stage, allowing him to get one further stage point. In the final stage, Preece made one final pit stop to ensure he had enough fuel and tires to reach the end, but his crew's slow pit stop cost him track position. After the last green flag run, Preece went from being inside the top 10 to finishing 13th, which now puts him 32 points behind Buescher for the final playoff spot with two races left before the playoffs start.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

August 10, 2025

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron finished fourth in Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. Byron began the race from the 10th position, but quickly advanced further into the top 10 right from the beginning. Byron was about to crack the top five until he got shuffled back and lost ground while fighting for position, but left the top 10 for the rest of the stage once he headed to pit road before the end of stage one. The No. 24 Chevrolet driver placed 14th at the end of the first stage and failed to score stage points. Byron was quiet in the second stage and kept his car clean, but also improved his running position throughout the stage. Eventually, Byron stayed off of pit road before the stage break, unlike the first stage, and as a result finished second in the second stage, collecting several stage points. In the final stage, Byron started off fighting for the lead against Ryan Blaney, but fell back to third until he went to pit road for the final time. Byron then spent the rest of the race maintaining his track position and keeping his car in one piece without much issue, leading to his first top-5 finish at Watkins Glen since his 2023 victory at the site. With two races left in NASCAR's regular season, Byron holds a 42-point lead over Chase Elliott for the regular season championship.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

August 10, 2025

Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing had an up-and-down day at the Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International, but ended with a highly respectable finish. Briscoe started in the third position for Sunday's Cup Series race and remained there until he took his first pit stop of the day four laps before the end of the first stage. Several other drivers headed to pit road in the laps before the stage ended, allowing Briscoe to finish stage one in ninth and gain two stage points. In the second stage, Briscoe enacted a similar strategy for pitting in the race by waiting to hit pit road until the end, but it did not have the same results as the first stage. Briscoe fell deep into the pack and could not recover by the end of stage two, placing 24th. In the final stage, Briscoe regained track position inside the top 10 and kept his car fast and clean despite Ross Chastain at one point sending him to the dirt. Briscoe also got to the lead around lap 63 during green flag pit stops, leading six laps until he went for his final pit stop of the day. Then, he spent the rest of the race racing his way from the top 15 to the top five as he finished the race in the fifth position, scoring his first career top-5 finish at Watkins Glen.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

August 10, 2025

Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports had a challenging day at Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling at the Glen. Elliott started the race from the 20th position and kept his car in one piece during the first stage. As other drivers went to pit road before the end of the first stage, Elliott stayed out until the completion of the stage, finishing it in fourth and gaining stage points. The No. 9 Chevrolet driver did not go to pit road until a few laps into the stage when Josh Berry spun his car and left debris on the track. When the race got back to green flag conditions, Elliott shuffled towards the top 10 and competed for a spot there until the end of the stage. He ended stage two in 11th and failed to score further stage points. Through the rest of the race, Elliott tried to make use of pit strategies to move through the field, but it backfired as he plummeted further back in positions until the end of the race. Elliott ended the race in the 26th position, marking his first finish this season outside of the top 20, and he now falls 42 points behind William Byron in the regular season championship with two races to go.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

August 10, 2025

It should come as no surprise to anyone, but Shane van Gisbergen is the heavy favorite to win this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen Cup Series race. The Trackhouse Racing driver was happy with his No. 88 Chevrolet after practice on Saturday and then went out and qualified second for this weekend's race. The first part of that is noteworthy, too, because SVG has had a tendency to not be very happy with his car before the race and then go out and demolish the field on Sunday. As far as DFS goes, van Gisbergen is rightfully the highest-priced driver on the slate (at $12,700 on DraftKings) and has the potential to put up a dominating effort on Sunday. However, because of his second-place starting spot, there is no place-differential upside there. If SVG does SVG things this weekend, though, he'll likely end up in the optimal DFS lineup anyway.--Jordan McAbee
Source: ifantasyrace

August 10, 2025

Kyle Larson is a two-time winner at Watkins Glen, so it was a bit surprising to see the Hendrick Motorsports driver qualify 27th for this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen race. However, sometimes bad qualifying efforts just happen, and it shouldn't be a cause for concern, as Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet had top-five speed in practice earlier that day. Now the question becomes, though, what do you do with Larson in DFS on Sunday? He obviously has a ton of Place Differential upside, but there is also Shane van Gisbergen on the driver list priced even higher than Larson, and SVG has the potential to absolutely dominate this race. There's no doubt that Larson should be used quite a bit in DFS lineups on Sunday, but his high salary on DraftKings makes it tough to consider him a must-play. It's worth nothing that Kyle Larson hasn't finished better than 13th in four road course races this season, and has just two top-10 results in his last 11 starts on this track type. Those two exceptions were wins, though.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Driver Averages

August 10, 2025

Whenever the NASCAR Cup Series goes to a road course, Chase Elliott is always one of the drivers that many people point to as one that could win. And even though he hasn't gone to victory lane at this track type in 24 races, Chase is still a constant top-five threat. In fact, in four of the last five road course races, he's ended up between third and fifth--including a podium finish at Sonoma just last month. This weekend at Watkins Glen, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team has struggled a little bit to find consistent speed, but they should be fine during the race, especially with Elliott behind the wheel. In qualifying, Chase ended up 20th-fastest, which means he has a ton of Place Differential upside in DFS this weekend, and a very reasonable price ($9,100 on DraftKings). You should have plenty of Chase Elliott exposure in your DFS lineups at Watkins Glen this weekend. --Jordan McAbee
Source: ifantasyrace

August 10, 2025

The driver on the playoff bubble heading into Watkins Glen, Chris Buescher, will have plenty of eyes on him this weekend, and not only because of his current postseason situation. Buescher is the defending race winner here at Watkins Glen and is a consistent threat for a good finish when the Cup Series visits a road course. This weekend, the Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing driver will start from 12th place in Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen, but he comes at a pretty steep price on DraftKings (at a $9,000 salary). Additionally, DFS managers have to question what kind of strategy Buescher and the No. 17 team are going to take on Sunday, as they could opt to go for stage points, which could hurt his overall finish when the checkered flag waves. If that strategy aspect wouldn't be throwing a wrench into everything, though, Buescher is likely a top-five threat for this weekend's race, so keep that in mind.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Spectrum News

August 10, 2025

Surprisingly, Tyler Reddick is struggling to find speed at Watkins Glen this weekend. The road course ace is typically one of the best when NASCAR visits this track type, but Reddick ended up being a lackluster 28th-fastest in practice on Saturday and then went out and qualified 21st for this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen. It feels similar to the Mexico City race earlier this year, where Reddick struggled to find his groove for most of the weekend and ended up finishing 20th after starting 22nd. Now, with that being said, there is certainly plenty of upside with Reddick this weekend, as he is a road course stud. Over the last 19 races on this track type, he has three wins and 14 single-digit results. Because of that, it would be wise to have decent Reddick exposure in DFS on Sunday, especially considering he's very reasonably priced at $8,800 on DraftKings. --Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski

August 10, 2025

The heavy favorite to win this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen is Shane van Gisbergen, but if he were to have issues or something were to happen, Michael McDowell would definitely be in contention to grab the win and shake up the playoff landscape. McDowell is one of the premier road-course racers in the series, and just last month, he was able to post another top-five finish on this track type after finishing fourth at Sonoma a month ago. Here at Watkins Glen specifically, McDowell ended up seventh last year and sixth back in 2022. This weekend, he should be a top-five threat, as the No. 71 Chevrolet posted some really good lap times in practice and McDowell also qualified sixth. That limits his place-differential upside in DFS, but at just $8,400 on DraftKings, McDowell is still a solid tournament play on Sunday.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Driver Averages

August 10, 2025

Don't count out Joey Logano from getting a top-10 finish in this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen. In the three Watkins Glen races in the Next Gen era, Logano has posted finishes of third, 10th, and 15th, and the No. 22 Ford showed pretty good speed in practice this weekend, ending up 13th-fastest in 10-lap average and ninth-best when it came to 15-lap average. As far as DFS goes, Logano is an interesting tournament option on DraftKings, as he's very reasonably priced (at $7,500) but doesn't have a ton of Place Differential upside, as he qualified 11th. With that being said, if Logano is able to sneak out another top-five result here on Sunday, he would definitely make the optimal lineup. He's a tournament option for daily fantasy lineups, and it makes Logano a little easier to trust when you consider his track record at Watkins Glen specifically. --Jordan McAbee
Source: ifantasyrace

August 10, 2025

Don't count out Todd Gilliland from posting a decent finish in this weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen. Over the last two races at Watkins Glen, Gilliland has been able to post finishes of 16th and 11th, and he starts back in 28th-place for this weekend's race. That means he has plenty of Place Differential upside, and would easily hit value with a mid-teens finish (or better) at his $6,700 salary on DraftKings. This year on road courses, Gilliland finished 10th at COTA but hasn't been able to crack the top 20 since. Still, in five of the last eight road course races overall, he's wound up 18th or better. Even more encouraging is the fact that Gilliland's No. 34 Ford was fast in practice on Saturday, ending up with the ninth-fastest lap and the 10th-quickest five-lap average. --Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski

August 10, 2025

One decision that DFS managers will have to make this weekend is whether or not to roll the dice with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen. Stenhouse is by no means a road-course ace, but he's cheap enough on DraftKings ($5,800) and has enough place-differential upside (he qualified 35th), that he has to be an option on the table. Additionally, Stenhouse has actually been pretty decent here at Watkins Glen of late, with four finishes between 13th and 19th in his last five races at the track. This season on road courses, though, it has been a struggle for Stenhouse, as he's ended up 27th or worse in three of the four. The exception was at COTA back in March, where Stenhouse finished 18th. Just because of his place-differential upside, you should probably have some Stenhouse exposure in DFS this weekend. In practice on Friday, Stenhouse ranked 13th-fastest on the board.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski