Watkins Glen’s road course is one of NASCAR’s “wild card” tracks, especially with the race being as close as it is to the end of the regular season.
Advertisement
As he talks about it, Buescher is more surprised that they are not already in the top 30 in points.
Tony Stewart has raced under just about every condition there is in racing. Also, Ragan helped Buescher get his career off the ground by setting him up with living arrangements, signing him to his Legends auto team as a development driver and connecting him with Roush Fenway Racing. The win was the first Sprint Cup Series win of his career and is still his only win in any race thus far. Now, he has to take that small step – make it into the top 30 in points, the cutoff needed to become eligible for NASCAR’s post-season. He has a good chance at making up some of that ground this weekend.
“They did a good job with the repave”, Edwards said.
Logano, who will start seventh Sunday in the Cup race, has finished seventh or better in four of his last five starts at Watkins Glen, and in his last two starts at NASCAR’s other road course in Sonoma he was fifth past year and third in June in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Their average age is 20.33. Last week: Chris Buescher won a weather-shortened race in Pocono, his first victory in the series. Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin all did after Monday’s race at Pocono. He also won the pole at NASCAR’s other road course in Sonoma, California. He has top-five finishes in four of the last six races.
Joey Logano topped the first round. “Play like a champion”. This sets up Saturday’s qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Cheez-It 355 At The Glen.
Last week’s victor Chris Buescher isn’t in the chase just yet, but he will look to change that when he starts from the 25th spot at Watkins Glen International in the No. 34. It was the fourth pole of the season for Edwards in his No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. So was coming to Watkins Glen – with Amy Reimann out of town – where he spent much of the morning before practice thanking his crew for its diligence in his absence.
But past year produced just three top-10 finishes as The ‘Dinger plummeted to a disappointing 22nd in points. In his brief history before his matriculation with Said bore progress, Edwards failed to complete his first Cup test lap at Watkins Glen and “there was the brush fire I started at (Virginia International Raceway)”, he admitted, when he went off-course with Said in a two-seater. Luckily he was able to nurse his Chevrolet around the 2.45-mile NY road course without doing damage to the power plant.
As opposed to your traditional oval track, road courses present certain challenges for drivers and their teams they wouldn’t usually have to focus on from one week to the next.
Following Watkins Glen, Gordon will make at least one more start for Earnhardt, at Bristol.
“He is not a counselor or a psychologist”, Earnhardt said, his voice raising until he stumbled on pronouncing psychologist, then chuckled.
Matt Kenseth will make his 600th career start in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. He will lead quite a few laps at the beginning of the race. Bored and “super anxious”, he said, to return to a racetrack after missing the past three Sprint Cup events suffering from what he now openly calls a concussion.
Advertisement
The more intriguing storyline, however, came when Allmendinger unexpectedly won the race in 2014.
