NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Wheel it to a Watkins Glen Win?
40 drivers, seven turns, 90 laps, and only one winner. These are just some of the numbers that will define Sunday’s NASCAR action from Watkins Glen International. The fifth road course race of 2025 is also the last one in the regular season. One overwhelming favorite already has some engraving his name on the trophy. It is far too early to plant anyone’s flag in victory lane, however. Here are a few drivers aiming to roll a perfect game in the Go Bowling at The Glen.
Shane van Gisbergen
Death, taxes, and Shane van Gisbergen road course domination appear to be the three guarantees of life in 2025. SVG comes into Watkins Glen eyeing a fourth-straight road race checkered flag. The Trackhouse Racing driver remains unbeaten across three very different circuits already this season. He shows no signs of slowing down, with every performance being more elite. The Supercars champion was vanquished here in this race last year, though. A thrilling last-lap battle still lives on in many people’s minds, including the New Zealander’s.
“I still get frustrated thinking about that race,” van Gisbergen said. “When I make a personal mistake like that, it makes me angry to think that I threw that one away myself, especially after how good of a day it was. We had the fastest car all day, then to do that. I really want to get there this weekend, make no mistakes, have a fast car and try to execute all day. Which we have been doing on the road courses, and it will be good to continue doing that.”
“I think it’s just been time on the road courses, learning what we want from the car, changing our philosophy. We’ve really clicked on the road course set up and made our cars a lot better. On the ovals too, we are getting better as team.”
SVG and the Trackhouse No. 88 team appear to only get more and more dangerous with each road course race. Sonoma saw van Gisbergen lead a Cup Series-record 97 of 110 laps on the California circuit. Perhaps more impressively that day, SVG short-pitted a stage and still managed to win it. Also running Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, SVG is anything but lacking track time for Sunday. The three-time 2025 winner is rightfully the favorite for this weekend, eyeing another banner day in New York.
Chris Buescher
Coming out on the upper and of last year’s duel with SVG was Chris Buescher. September’s win here marked a maiden road course triumph for the RFK Racing driver. Buescher has been the picture of consistency at almost every road race in the Next Gen era. His Mustang has totaled an impressive 15 top-10s in 21 starts. Buescher looked back on some unique circumstances in last year’s race, allowing the No. 17 to come alive late.
“We had a really good car at Watkins Glen that took a while to get going,” Buescher said. “Our long run speed was really the perk there. And the way the race played out, our long run speed was very strong. We had some good strategies as well and with the handful of restarts we were still able to go toe for toe there. We’ve seen some separation between short and long run speed at some tracks, and The Glen was probably the largest offset last year. I don’t know if that’ll be the case this year, and also, we don’t really want it to be that large. We need to figure out how to fire off a little bit better, and that’s probably our bigger focus right now.”
Despite two more road course top-10s this season, Buescher may have slightly lost his edge. Chicago and Sonoma were back-to-back mediocre runs for the RFK team. Both days say them hardly crack the top-20. Aside from last year’s win, Buescher does boast three-straight Watkins Glen results of ninth or better though. Needing a win to secure his Playoff fate, Watkins Glen may be Buescher’s best opportunity left at capturing a checkered flag.
Tyler Reddick
Not far ahead of Buescher on the Playoff bubble battle is fellow road racing ace Tyler Reddick. The three-time Cup road race winner is still 0-23 across this season, but has reason for optimism at Watkins Glen. Four career New York starts have netted three top-10s for driver 45. The only outlier was last year’s dismal 27th-place showing after a late restart incident.
Currently ranked 13th on the provisional Playoff grid, Reddick finds himself 122 points above the cut line. He is likely not in danger of missing the 16-man cut in three weeks. However, a win would mean all the momentum in the world for this 23XI Racing team. If anyone is possibly poised to take down prime SVG, it may just be the Toyota driver chasing a first 2025 victory.
Kyle Larson
It’s been 11 races since Kyle Larson went to victory lane, one of his longest dry spells in the Next Gen era. Watkins Glen is a prime opportunity for driver 5 to return to a familiar place. Larson is looking down a chance at a third win here in five years. The California kid owns six career Cup road course wins. Should Larson get to seven on Sunday, he would join rarified air as one of the winningest ever on the road. Larson likes his chances heading to western New York’s famed circuit.
“It’s always great going to Watkins Glen and to a track that I’ve had success at in the past,” Larson said. “With just a couple races left in the regular season, we’re hopeful that we can put together a solid race weekend to help towards winning the regular season championship and put us in a good spot for the Playoffs.”
Trying to enter the postseason on an upswing, Watkins Glen is a track team 5 has circled as a must-perform race. After back-to-back top-fives, Iowa slowly got away from Larson and saw another poor finish. Should the 5 stay clean for 90 laps, expect to see him up front and in the mix for another trophy.
Chase Elliott
No conversation about possible Watkins Glen winners is complete without mentioning Chase Elliott. The fan-favorite earned his maiden Cup triumph here in 2018, and backed it up a year later. Those two wins aside, Elliott also has second and fourth-place Watkins Glen results in the years since. Alas, the Next Gen Car has been a bit of a kryptonite for Elliott’s road course dominance. Elliott does however feel like the 9 team is trending back towards contention on circuits.
“We had a really solid foundation, and prior to our success here in ‘18 and ’19, it wasn’t like we were bad,” Elliott said. “We might not have won, but we were really solid before that. And, yeah, had a package, kept building on it, got better. That was all with the old car. Since the new car came in, it’s been totally different, truthfully. The success in this new car, it’s not even a different chapter, it’s like a different book. So, I wouldn’t even compare that if it were me. I think it’s just kind of happenstance that we’ve fired off well. I think all of us get around here pretty good, so that certainly helps as you come into a new car.”
Despite no road course win yet in the Next Gen Car, Elliott does have four top-fives in the last five races. Currently leading all active drivers with seven career road course victories, one more would tie Elliott with childhood idol Tony Stewart. Watkins Glen has been a magical track for Elliott before, the Hendrick driver hopes to recapture the winning feel here.
Ty Gibbs
Four drivers have earned their first career Cup Series win at Watkins Glen. Can Ty Gibbs be the fifth name on this list? Team 54 is coming off of three-straight solid road course runs, capped off with a runner-up in Chicago. For each race that SVG has won this year, Gibbs has been not far behind him and appeared on the cusp of breaking into victory lane. Gibbs admits though that strategy gambles have been both positive and negative for his Toyota.
“Sometimes you just make a call, it’s just not the right call” Gibbs said. “You can make the call and it works. Sometimes you think it’s the wrong call and it does work. So I don’t know, I’m not a strategist at all. I just drive the car and sometimes you just have to listen to your team and see what the plan is.”
Gibbs’ impressive road course prowess has been a known commodity for over four years. Now facing perhaps his best shot left at winning into Playoff contention, can driver 54 have a perfect day? Chicago proved that the young driver should not be overlooked on tight, technical circuits. Gibbs owns a Cup top-five and an Xfinity win here. The Finger Lakes track may just end with the Toyota driver holding up one finger in victory lane.
Shane van Gisbergen may be the ultimate elephant in the room now for any Cup road course race. As shown in years past though with similar road ringers, there are chinks in the armor that can lead to other drivers winning. The Go Bowling at The Glen goes green Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Execution for team 88 may have been flawless across the last three road races, but luck is a factor entirely out of their control. As a result, many others have equally high chances at victory.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
