By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday! This weekend NASCAR travels to Watkins Glen, New York for the “Go Bowling at the Glen” at Watkins Glen International.
Watkins Glen is a 2.45-mile-long Road Course with 8 turns. The track was opened in 1956, and held a race there the following year. It returned again for a couple of races in 1964 and 65, then finally became a regular staple on the NASCAR schedule in 1986. Buck Baker won the first NASCAR race at Watkins Glen.
Tomorrow’s race will be 90 laps long (for a total of 220.86 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 20 – 40 – 90. Pit road speed is 40 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 45 mph.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 7,235 laps, for 9,695.37 miles so far this season. No driver has completed 100% of them, but Daniel Hemric is the closest, having driven 99.45% of them.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Watkins Glen:
Christopher Bell | 6.00 over 3 races |
Tyler Reddick | 8.33 over 3 races |
Chase Elliott | 9.43 over 7 races (2 wins) |
Martin Truex Jr. | 10.65 over 17 races (1 win) |
Kyle Busch | 10.67 over 18 races (2 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Watkins Glen:
Daniel Hemric | 35.00 over 1 race |
Harrison Burton | 30.50 over 2 races |
Corey LaJoie | 27.60 over 5 races |
Ryan Preece | 27.00 over 3 races |
Michael McDowell | 25.69 over 13 races |
Watkins Glen is a Road Course
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses:
Chase Elliott | 8.08 over 33 races (7 wins) |
Tyler Reddick | 10.32 over 24 races (3 wins) |
Chris Buescher | 13.30 over 35 races |
Ty Gibbs | 13.75 over 12 races |
Kyle Busch | 14.44 over 56 races (4 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses:
Daniel Hemric | 26.70 over 7 races |
Ryan Preece | 26.33 over 21 races |
Harrison Burton | 23.95 over 15 races |
Noah Gragson | 23.88 over 7 races |
Corey LaJoie | 23.71 over 28 races |
Tony Stewart is the winningest driver at Watkins Glen, having won 5 times. He’s followed by Jeff Gordon who has 4, and Mark Martin with 3. As for current drivers, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott each have 2 wins.
Notable drivers who have not won at Watkins Glen:
Brad Keselowski | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
Ryan Blaney | (has won at 9 other tracks) |
Christopher Bell | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Alex Bowman | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 7 other tracks) |
Chase Elliott won his first Cup Series race at Watkins Glen. It came in his 99th career start.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Watkins Glen as their BEST or WORST track.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2023
Noah Gragson | +417 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Chase Elliott | +332 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Ty Gibbs | +192 pts |
Alex Bowman | +180 pts |
Todd Gilliland | +138 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023
William Byron | -196 pts |
Martin Truex Jr. | -181 pts |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -128 pts |
Kyle Busch | -117 pts |
Michael McDowell | -105 pts |
While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2023, how does this year stack up against their entire career? This statistic does not include rookies, as this is their first full year in the Cup Series.
Drivers Having their BEST Career Year
Tyler Reddick | 10.96 |
Ty Gibbs | 14.78 |
Todd Gilliland | 19.93 |
Drivers Having their WORST Career Year
Harrison Burton | 25.89 |
Justin Haley | 22.89 |
Austin Dillon | 22.78 |
Erik Jones | 22.20 |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year
Carson Hocevar | 492 |
Josh Berry | 469 |
Zane Smith | 346 |
Kaz Grala | 169 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 944 |
Toyota | 929 |
Ford | 908 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 913 |
Joe Gibbs | 905 |
23XI | 819 |
RFK | 775 |
Penske | 771 |
Trackhouse | 743 |
Stewart-Haas | 736 |
RCR | 650 |
Spire | 602 |
Front Row | 557 |
Kaulig | 478 |
Rick Ware | 473 |
Legacy Motor Club | 465 |
JTG-Daugherty | 410 |
Wood Bros | 307 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Kyle Larson | 253 |
Denny Hamlin | 233 |
Ryan Blaney | 212 |
Christopher Bell | 187 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 177 |
Tyler Reddick | 170 |
William Byron | 169 |
Chase Elliott | 165 |
Brad Keselowski | 139 |
Joey Logano | 129 |
Milestone Watch
Austin Dillon | This will be his 400th Cup Series Start |
Todd Gilliland | This will be his 100th Cup Series Start |
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 10th Career Win |
William Byron | Looking for his 50th Career Top 5 |
Alex Bowman | Looking for his 40th Career Top 5 |
Austin Cindric | Looking for his 20th Career Top 10 |
Martin Truex Jr. | Looking for his 290th Career Top 10 |
Erik Jones | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 132 races |
Erik Jones | 72 races |
Bubba Wallace | 70 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 62 races |
Kyle Busch | 48 races |
Martin Truex Jr. | 43 races |
Michael McDowell | 39 races |
Chris Buescher | 37 races |
Ross Chastain | 27 races |
Daniel Suarez | 25 races |
The race begins Sunday, Sept 15th at 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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