NASCAR Notebook: Cup Race at Watkins Glen Proves to Be Dismal Day for Playoff Drivers

Watkins Glen International made its debut in the NASCAR Cup playoffs this year and those competing for the 2024 championship won’t miss it next year when it returns to the regular season.

Overall, Sunday was a disastrous day for the majority of the 16 playoff drivers. In the overtime race that boiled down to a two-car duel between winner Chris Buescher and runner-up Shane Van Gisbergen, not a single playoff driver finished in the top five. Rookies Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith finished third and fifth, respectively, while pole winner Ross Chastain took fourth.

Chase Briscoe was the highest finishing playoff driver and his sixth-place paid dividends. He entered the event on the 2.4-mile road course 16th in the standings, 21 points below the cutline. However, he left six points to the good as did Ty Gibbs, who finished 22nd.

“It was huge,” Briscoe said about Sunday’s performance. “I felt like I could have got a couple more points, but just didn’t want to risk it there at the end. I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to a lot of the field, so we did what we needed to do and now we just need to go do that same thing next week.”

Austin Cindric, who finished 10th, was the only other playoff driver to snare a top-10 finish. He now has finished 10th in the first two playoff races and is 43 points above the cutline.

Denny Hamlin entered the event 11th in the standings, two points above the cutline. However, at Watkins Glen he was involved in a nine-car first lap crash that sidelined playoff driver Ryan Blaney before he completed a lap. Fortunately for Blaney, his third-place finish in the playoffs’ opening racing a week ago at Atlanta gave him a large point advantage to where he left Watkins Glen eighth in the standings, 29 points above the cutline.

“They didn’t give us a chance to fix it,” an angry Blaney said. “How are they going to dictate if we are done or not? They have no idea of the damage. They said we were done because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box, but if you have four flats, you get towed back to the pit box. I don’t know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it, but I don’t agree with it.”

Blaney said he didn’t even know what caused the accident that eliminated him.

“We stacked up and I caught someone in the left front, and I completely broke the steering,” Blaney said. “I don’t know if we could have fixed it. That is the frustrating part, just didn’t even give us a chance and just ended our day without even letting us look at it before it was in the garage. It stinks.”

Hamlin floundered throughout the 92-lap race that ended in overtime. He eventually salvaged a 23rd-place finish, but dropped to 13th in the standings, six points below the cutline.

“Obviously, the car is just destroyed, so to finish 23rd, I guess there is a positive,” Hamlin said. “We were certainly in a worst spot most of the day, and luckily, we had some attrition there at the end that helped us out.”

Joining Hamlin below the cutline are Brad Keselowski at minus-12, Martin Truex Jr. at minus-14 and Harrison Burton in 16th with a minus-20.

“You get green-white-checker at the end of the race, and you know people are just going to drive through someone,” Truex said. “We were on the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual. We were in a decent spot there … and you go through the esses, and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles. This racing is just ridiculous.”

Nearly No. 2 for Van Gisbergen

Shane Van Gisbergen’s prowess on road courses is well known in the NASCAR community. After winning his inaugural Cup race last year at Chicago, he’s recorded three road course victories in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series this year.

Even though he’s running a limited Cup schedule this year for Kaulig Racing, the Trackhouse Racing driver was considered a favorite at Watkins Glen. On the overtime restart, he lined up on the inside behind eventual winner Chris Buescher. Rookie Carson Hocevar lined up on the front row beside Buescher. When the green flag waved, Van Gisbergen dove under Buescher as they charged into turn one, making it three wide. Van Gisbergen grabbed the lead, but Buescher was in hot pursuit.

Racing through the Bus Stop, Van Gisbergen emerged a little too fast and Buescher got to his bumper. He dove under Gisbergen, moving him slightly out of the groove and retook the lead to grab his first victory this season by 0.979 second over the New Zealand native.

“Just to stay right there with him, that was the spot that he was better than us,” Buescher said about the Bus Stop or chicane. “He missed it, so I tried to do a crossover. Just such an awesome finish.”

Van Gisbergen walked into victory lane to congratulate Buescher.

“Driver error,” Van Gisbergen said about his exit of the Bus Stop. “I knew Chris was really going to send it and push me if he could get there. As I turned and got a bit loose and clipped the inside wall and driver error.

“I’m gutted we couldn’t get it, but I had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself. Pissed because these races are hard to win, and we have had a rough run in the Cup Series this year.”

Ford Ends Hendrick’s Domination at The Glen

Hendrick Motorsports had owned Watkins Glen International in recent years, winning the list five NASCAR Cup races at the historic road course.

Chase Elliott was victorious in 2018-19, Kyle Larson 2021-22 and William Byron 2023. However, this year’s Go Bowling at The Glen belonged to Ford driver Chris Buescher as the Hendrick drivers encountered issues throughout the event.

First, Kyle Larson received a pit road penalty on lap 37. Then on lap 47 he was involved in an accident with Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. He was running sixth with 25 laps remaining, but had to pit five laps later. Larson eventually finished 12^th, making him the best performer among the four Hendrick drivers.

“Our race was pretty wild,” Larson said. “We started right in the middle of the field, and it was just never quite relaxing. Wish we could restart the whole weekend over.”

Alex Bowman finished 18th, Elliott 19th and Byron 34th.

Byron was involved in the race’s most spectacular crash on lap 84 when after tagging the rear of Logano’s Ford, he ran up on the guardrail and up the back of Keselowski’s Ford, coming to rest atop the driver’s side of Keselowski’s car. Byron backed his car off of Keselowski’s and the two continued.

“It was just chaos,” Byron said. “I am not sure exactly what happened, but I was trying to get to the outside of the No. 22 (Logano) and the No. 6 (Keselowski) kind of hooked back to the left. This was just kind of a nightmare weekend.”

Entering Bristol, which will determine the Round of 12, Bowman is fourth in the standings, 41 points above the cutline; Elliott seventh with a 30-point cushion; Larson ninth, plus 26 points; and Byron 10th, 25 points to the good.

Dismal Day for Keselowski

Brad Keselowski endured one of the most frustrating days of his career at Watkins Glen, fighting through pit road penalties and accidents to secure a 26th-place finish. A dismal finish that left him 12 points below the cutline with one race remaining in the playoffs first round.

Keselowski was involved in the first lap nine-car incident, but his car wasn’t severely damaged. His setbacks started on lap 17 when he was penalized for speeding on pit road. Then during a pit stop on lap 36, a tire rolled out of his pit box, and he was assessed another pit road penalty, this one for a tire violation.

A few laps later, on lap 47, Keselowski was involved in an accident with Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin when they tried to enter turn two three wide. Then on lap 84, Keselowski had William Byron’s Chevrolet run on top of his car in turn two.

Special Day for Spire Motorsports

Spire Motorsports enjoyed a special day at Watkins Glen with all three of its drivers finishing in the top 10.

Rookie Carson Hocevar posted his best finish this season, taking third, while fellow rookie Zane Smith placed fifth. Corey LaJoie finished eighth.

“I just needed some more confidence into turn one,” Hocevar said. “I did everything right, all the way until turn one, and then I just lifted a little too early. When I lost leverage, it was just game over from there.”

Smith said he was angry at himself over the pit road speeding penalty he received on lap 37.

“I was just under a tremendous amount of pressure, and I was just trying to execute everything,” Smith said. "We were able to keep getting positions on those restarts. Just got roughed up there at the end, but, fortunately, I was able to gain a few stops back.”

Shaping Up Xfinity Series Playoffs

With only one race remaining before this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff field is set, 10 of the 12 drivers have secured a post-season berth.

Those who earned a playoff berth via victory lane are Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Shane Van Gisbergen and Sam Mayer. A.J. Allmendinger clinched a berth with his third-place finish at Watkins Glen as did Sheldon Creed with his runner-up finish to first-time winner Connor Zilisch, who’s not eligible for the Xfinity playoffs since he’s not a full-time competitor in the series. That also applies to Aric Almirola and Ryan Truex who have won Xfinity races this year.

Results

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Go Bowling at The Glen

Watkins Glen International

1. (24) Chris Buescher, Ford, 92.

2. (3) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 92.

3. (29) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 92.

4. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 92.

5. (19) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 92.

6. (12) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 92.

7. (10) Michael McDowell, Ford, 92.

8. (18) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 92.

9. (21) Ryan Preece, Ford, 92.

10. (5) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 92.

11. (9) Noah Gragson, Ford, 92.

12. (20) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 92.

13. (8) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 92.

14. (17) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 92.

15. (7) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 92.

16. (37) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 92.

17. (32) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 92.

18. (4) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 92.

19. (14) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 92.

20. (2) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, 92.

21. (35) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 92.

22. (15) Ty Gibbs (P), Toyota, 92.

23. (22) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 92.

24. (33) Harrison Burton (P), Ford, 92.

25. (31) Josh Berry #, Ford, 92.

26. (28) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 92.

27. (16) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 92.

28. (23) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 92.

29. (36) Justin Haley, Ford, 92.

30. (13) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 92.

31. (27) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 92.

32. (34) Juan Pablo Montoya, Toyota, 91.

33. (25) Erik Jones, Toyota, 90.

34. (11) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 90.

35. (38) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 87.

36. (6) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, Transmission, 6.

37. (26) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 2.

38. (30) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, Accident, 0.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 85.226 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 38 Mins, 41 Secs. Margin of Victory:.979 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 21 laps.

Lead Changes: 11 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Chastain 1-17;M. Truex Jr. (P) 18-21;A. Bowman (P) 22;R. Chastain 23-56;C. Buescher 57-58;M. McDowell 59-65;C. LaJoie 66-67;J. Logano (P) 68-73;C. Buescher 74-89;C. Hocevar # 90;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 91;C. Buescher 92.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ross Chastain 2 times for 51 laps; Chris Buescher 3 times for 19 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 7 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 6 laps; Martin Truex Jr. (P) 1 time for 4 laps; Corey LaJoie 1 time for 2 laps; Carson Hocevar # 1 time for 1 lap; Alex Bowman (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,48,14,99,2,9,45,5,43,31

Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,16,22,54,24,21,14,48,41,11