CONCORD, N.C. – Road course racing awaits as the NASCAR Cup Series treks to Watkins Glen International this weekend.
In road course events, Hendrick Motorsports owns the record for the most wins all-time with 15. In addition to leading all Cup Series teams in wins on road courses, Hendrick Motorsports also owns the record for the most poles (17), top-fives (56), top-10s (99) and laps led (1,435).
Jeff Gordon leads all drivers in road-course victories with nine (five at Sonoma and four at Watkins Glen).
Here’s a closer look at how the organization has performed at The Glen over the years.
- In 32 races at Watkins Glen, Hendrick Motorsports has six wins, six pole positions, 18 top-five finishes and 35 top-10s. Gordon ranks second on the all-time wins list at The Glen with four victories. He earned Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent victory at the road course when he won the 2001 event. With 262 laps led, Gordon is the all-time leader in that category at the serpentine track.
- While Hendrick Motorsports has found Victory Lane six times at Watkins Glen, the organization's most recent win at the New York track was Gordon's 2001 victory. Since that trip to Victory Lane, Hendrick Motorsports has won 147 times on 21 different tracks, including three wins at Sonoma.
- After scoring fifth- and seventh-place finishes the last two weekends, Chase Elliott has compiled some impressive statistics. The third-year driver has won two stages and collected a total of 38 stage points, both of which are the most among all drivers in the past two weeks. Elliott’s average running position (4.06) over those two races also leads all drivers. The driver of the No. 9 has earned 100 points over the last two weekends, ranked second only to Kevin Harvick, who has amassed 103.
- In Elliott’s five previous starts in the Cup Series at road courses (Sonoma and Watkins Glen), Elliott has collected two top-10 finishes and averaged a starting position of 9.4 and finishing position of 11.8. Earlier this season, Elliott started and finished inside the top five at Sonoma Raceway, earning his career-best road course finish of fourth. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he finished inside the top 10 in all six of his starts on road courses – two apiece at Road America, Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio – and earned top-five finishes in four.
- If Elliott wins this weekend at Watkins Glen International, he could join an impressive list of drivers who scored their first career win on a road course. One notable name on the list is his father, Bill Elliott, who captured his first career win at Riverside International Raceway on Nov. 20, 1983.
- William Byron earned his career-best NASCAR Cup Series finish last weekend at Pocono Raceway. This weekend, the driver will make his third start at Watkins Glen and his first in the Cup Series. The 20-year-old raced on the 2.45-mile road course in the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race, when he started second and finished seventh, and again in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017, when he started 15th and finished 10th. Overall, Byron has run nine road course races across four different NASCAR series – Cup, Xfinity, Truck and K&N Pro – finishing inside the top 10 in all but two of those races. His best road course finish is a third-place result in the K&N Pro Series East race at Sonoma in June of this year while running double-duty. He scored a 25th-place finish in the Cup race that same weekend.
- Although Jimmie Johnson has yet to score a win at the road course at Watkins Glen International, he has accumulated four top-five finishes and eight top-10s, with his best finish of third coming in 2007 and 2012. Johnson won the pole position at the 2.45-mile road course in 2009. He has an average starting position of 7.6 and finishing position of 16.2 at the venue.
- Alex Bowman earned his career-best NASCAR Cup Series finish last weekend at Pocono Raceway. In the last six races, Bowman has amassed four top-10 finishes, tying him for the second-highest total in the NASCAR Cup Series during that span. He nearly notched a fifth, finishing 11th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
- Bowman has two previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen. Bowman’s best finish at the track came back in 2015 when he finished 29th. In 2013, Bowman ran the Nationwide Children’s Hospital paint scheme in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and finished 13th after qualifying 19th. Earlier this season, Bowman drove the No. 88 at the road course at Sonoma Raceway to a ninth-place finish.
- Of the last seven races held on Aug. 5, Hendrick Motorsports has claimed victories in two of them. Gordon drove his No. 24 Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 5, 2001, and again on Aug. 5, 2012, at Pocono Raceway.
- If Elliott, Byron or Bowman wins at Watkins Glen, it will mark the ninth time a driver has recorded his first career Cup Series win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing share the all-time record, having each sent eight first-time winners to Victory Lane in Cup Series competition.
- Hendrick Motorsports currently has three drivers in playoff position –Elliott, Johnson and Bowman – which is tied for the second-most among all teams in the NASCAR Cup Series.