CONCORD, N.C. – Hendrick Motorsports will be on the hunt for its fourth straight Watkins Glen International victory when the NASCAR Cup Series hits the Finger Lakes region of New York this weekend.
Kyle Larson is the defending race winner and Chase Elliott won at the road course in 2018 and 2019 – there was no 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization has won three straight at this venue before with NASCAR Hall of Famer and team vice chairman Jeff Gordon notching consecutive victories from 1997 to 1999. All those victories make up six of the series-best nine in team history at this facility with Gordon earning another in 2001 and Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd each notching triumphs.
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Elliott scored his first premier series win at Watkins Glen – the first of his seven road course wins to date. That total stands as the most among active drivers in the series and the third-most in Cup Series history. He has the third-best average finish all time on road courses at 7.83 in 23 starts, which is also the best mark among active drivers. At this specific track, he has three straight top-two finishes.
This season, Elliott is tied for leading the most laps on serpentine layouts (62), has three top-eight finishes in four races on that track type and is tied for the most points scored (138) with Austin Cindric. In Sunday’s race, the 26-year-old has a chance to lock down the regular season championship and the 15 playoff points that come with the honor.
"Watkins Glen (International) was where I got my first win so it’s of course a place that holds a lot of great memories for me," Elliott said. "We’ve had a good amount of success there as a team and I feel like this year we’ve come a long way in our road course program with the new car. This is the place that I feel like we can really go and have a good run and get some momentum back heading into the playoffs."
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Larson’s win at the New York road course was one of three road wins that the driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com had last year en route to the championship. He has three straight top-eight finishes at the track and an average finish of 5.0 over that stretch. He is one of four drivers – along with Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. – to finish in the top 10 in each of the last three races at the seven-turn course.
With 58 stage points over the last six races, the 30-year-old is gaining ground on trying to get to second in the point standings with two races left in the regular season. He’ll also be running the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.
Like Larson, William Byron will also be running the Xfinity race here, but he’ll drive the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports. Through his first four-plus seasons in the Cup Series, the 2.45-mile road course ranks as one of Byron’s best tracks based on average finish (11.7). His three starts at the track include two top-eight finishes. On top of that, Byron took part in a tire test at Watkins Glen earlier this year.
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The 24-year-old driver and his crew chief Rudy Fugle have been on the hunt for stage points of late, scoring 45 of those in the last six races - which is fourth-best in that span of events.
This weekend also marks a return to Fugle’s hometown track as he is from Livonia, New York, which is approximately 68 miles from the racing facility.
Watkins Glen marks the fifth of six road courses on the 2022 schedule. In the first race this year at a track that turns left and right, Alex Bowman scored a runner-up finish at Circuit of The Americas. It is one of two second-place finishes that the 29-year-old has on serpentine layouts in his career, which is the second-most among active drivers without a victory on that track type. Since joining Hendrick Motorsports, he and crew chief Greg Ives have placed in the top 10 in nine of 19 road course events.
"We have had speed every time we have raced at a road course this year and it goes to show how talented our team is back at the shop at building exceptional race cars," Ives said. "We had a No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 capable of winning at Circuit of The Americas and had a great car at Road America, so I know we will have another great car this weekend at Watkins Glen International."
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Tune in on Sunday to see if Hendrick Motorsports can grab its series-best 10th win at Watkins Glen. USA Network will have the broadcast at 3 p.m. ET with radio coverage on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).