Track: Watkins Glen International
Location: Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Track length: 2.45 miles
When: 3 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FS1, FOX One, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 100 laps | 245 miles
Stages: 20 | 50 | 100
Sunday’s starting lineup | Cup Series pit stall assignments
SVG a constant in a season of change at The Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — This winding road circuit has hugged these hills for 70 years now, but even a venerable, veteran track can take on something new.
The NASCAR Cup Series’ second road-course race this season will feature a handful of novel concepts in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the 2026 campaign churns toward the halfway mark of the regular season. Track limits will have some new, barrier-backed reinforcement in a pair of key areas, the weather will be cooler for a one-off springtime date and the race will be the longest — by 10 extra laps — in NASCAR’s rich history here.
MORE: Weekend schedule, TV info | At-track photos
If there’s a constant among all the Watkins Glen twists, it’s the looming, dominant presence of Shane van Gisbergen. The defending race winner enters as a heavy favorite, and his road-racing expertise will set the bar that the rest of the Cup Series field aspires to clear.
SVG topped Saturday’s practice in the consecutive 5-lap, 10-lap and 15-lap average categories, suggesting his long-run speed will be formidable. Between practice and qualifying, van Gisbergen fretted over how rough his car was driving, suggesting just how much more impressive he might be if his No. 97 Chevrolet got dialed in. Properly tuned a session later, he landed the pole, and Trackhouse Racing teammates Connor Zilisch and Ross Chastain both joined him among the top five.
“Obviously, SVG is coming into the NASCAR world and has instantly shown to be an exceptional talent, very specifically as we see on road races, right from the get-go,” said RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who outdueled van Gisbergen here in 2024. “That’s been a benchmark for the entire garage, and that’s been something that there’s been a handful of race tracks, and Watkins Glen is one that I feel like everybody’s run here so much through the years that we’re all closer here, but, man, we went to new race tracks and we realized we’ve got some work to do.”
The whole field will face an unavoidable challenge in Sunday’s 100-lap showdown, with new tire-pack barriers establishing track limits in two crucial spots — the exits of Turns 1 and 5. In past years, those areas outside the racing groove have been either grass, gravel traps, or most recently, pavement, allowing cars to sweep wide and sometimes creating a treacherous funnel effect when drivers try to get back in line.
The barriers have made those areas narrower but safer, but also a little less forgiving when the racing room tightens up.
“Only Turn 1, I find different,” van Gisbergen said after qualifying. “You really have to brake a bit earlier and harder to stop the corner, and then you’ve got no margin for error. Like you’re trying to stay relatively tight last year, but you could blow the corner if you needed to and still make time. So yeah, it has changed how accurate you need to be at Turn 1. (In Friday’s Truck Series race) in the restarts, I really found how much tighter of a corner it was and how much you don’t want to be on the outside, I guess, but sometimes you can’t help it. So yeah, it’s a tough corner. The (Turn 5) carousel is not really different, I don’t think.”
NASCAR competition officials also made adjustments Saturday morning to the restart zone, which was moved to the short chute before Turn 7 for last year’s race. The zone remains in the same place, but officials shifted the tire-pack barriers to make the markings along the retaining walls more visible. The move came in response to complaints from a handful of drivers and two key restart-violation penalties in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race.
In the details …
Stage points can help make or break a driver’s championship chances. Opportunities to pile on points during early portions of the race can help build a cushion for drivers who also finish well when the checkered flag waves. But road courses present a more difficult choice: pit before the stage end, forfeiting those points for track position? Or stay out, collect stage points and pit under yellow, giving up track position and necessitating a fight back through traffic?
Here are the 10 drivers who have collected the most stage points this season, including the Daytona Duels, before Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen:
Name
Stage Points
Standings
Kyle Larson
91
8th
Denny Hamlin
91
2nd
Ryan Blaney
87
4th
Tyler Reddick
87
1st
Christopher Bell
83
13th
Bubba Wallace
71
11th
Ty Gibbs
66
7th
Chris Buescher
62
5th
Chase Elliott
61
3rd
William Byron
57
10th
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
• Watkins Glen hub: Key information, pit-stall assignments, results | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Paint schemes set to dazzle in the Finger Lakes | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: Why Preece was penalized and why Busch wasn’t after Texas | Listen now
• Elliott’s greatest strength: Wins are nice, but No. 9’s consistency rises above | Read move
• Power Rankings: Cup Series’ top 20 drivers after Texas | This week’s ranks
• NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault from Watkins Glen | Watch now
Contributing: Zach Sturniolo
