WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 19, 2023) – Break out the pins, we’re going bowling at The Glen! This lane, however, extends beyond the standard 60 ft. lane of wood, checking in at 2.45 miles of asphalt, seven turns and 38 ft. in track width. Watkins Glen International is the only track in New York to host a NASCAR Cup Series race every year since 1986, and Richard Childress Racing has yet to miss a race at the track, with two wins (Robby Gordon in 2003 and Kevin Harvick in 2006) among 79 starts at the track in NASCAR’s premier series… The NASCAR Xfinity Series made it’s inaugural appearance to The Glen in 1991 before becoming a permanent staple on the second-tier level’s schedule in 2005.
Road racing first came to Watkins Glen after a law student spending his summer at his family’s lake house proposed the “Watkins Glen Grand Prix”. After eight years of racing the grand prix on closed public roads that doubled as farm roads, the decision was made to build a permanent road course, now known as Watkins Glen International.
During the 2022 NASCAR regular season, RCR brought home two top-10s from The Glen across both the Xfinity and Cup Series. One of those top-10s came from the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet, Sheldon Creed.
“Watkins Glen is my favorite road course that we go to throughout the year. It’s really fast and feels like the superspeedway of road courses. There are three big brake zones, but the track overall is fast. It might not be the fastest road course we go to from a mile per hour standpoint, but from the driver’s seat, it sure feels like it is,” said Creed.
Creed’s teammate Austin Hill, who currently leads the point standings, has proven himself on road courses this year with (insert road course stats here). He’s a former winner at the track in the NASCAR Truck Series.
“I’ve won there in the Truck Series in 2021, which always gives you more confidence heading into the weekend. The track is such a high-speed circuit that makes it a lot of fun. It doesn’t really have any technical corners like other road courses,” said Hill.
But Creed and Hill are not the only drivers in the RCR stable putting in the work this week to prepare for Watkins Glen. Austin Dillon, who will pilot the No. 3 Okuma Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Watkins Glen,
has spent a tremendous amount of time working on road course performance alongside Crew Chief Keith Rodden.
“I’ve spent lot of time in the simulator, going over notes and watching old races,” said Dillon. “It’s also been helpful working with Josh Wise, Scott Speed and everyone at Chevrolet to get prepared, both mentally and physically for these road course races. We try to make sure we are putting in the work beforehand. We’ve been working really hard on our road course program the last few years. Watkins Glen is a really fast, aggressive track. You can gain a lot by getting after it on the braking zones and it’s just a high-speed place with all of the grip in the pavement.”
Teammate Kyle Busch has two wins at Watkins Glen International across in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I enjoy going to Watkins Glen,” said Busch. “I think it’s a really fun road course. I’ve had good success there with a lot of top-10s. It’s just a neat racetrack. I always enjoyed going to Sonoma and to Watkins Glen when we only had two road races on the schedule. It was always kind of like off weeks where you just did something different. You turn right, you turn left, you didn’t really have to take it too seriously and be pretty good at it. Now there’s seven road courses on the schedule so everybody is getting better at it.
“I think what makes Watkins Glen unique from other road courses is that it feels like a superspeedway because you’re going so fast there. Through the esses is pretty fast and it’s 190 miles per hour down the backstretch. Your minimum speed drops a little bit into Turn 1, Turn 11 and through the Bus Stop. It’s just a really cool place with good braking zones to make some passes. It’s just a fun course.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International will be televised live Saturday, August 19, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network and the NBC Sports App. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
The Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International will be televised live on Sunday, August 20 beginning at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network and the NBC Sports App. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.