FlurrySports looks at three key takeaways and observations from the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen race at Watkins Glen International.
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Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International had a little bit of everything. Strategy, tire management and sheer driving brilliance all converged in the Finger Lakes this weekend, producing a finish that will be difficult to forget.
From an absolute road racing clinic by the best to ever do it to Hendrick Motorsports unexpectedly being missing in action, here are three key takeaways from the Go Bowling at The Glen.
Takeaways From Go Bowling at The Glen: Who Won the NASCAR Race?
Shane van Gisbergen is NASCAR’s Road Course G.O.A.T.
Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen marked Shane van Gisbergen’s 14th road and street course start in the NASCAR Cup Series. With a stunning late-race charge through the field, SVG made good on his pole position and captured his second consecutive victory at Watkins Glen.
The raw numbers were dominant — van Gisbergen led 74 of 100 laps — but the race story was far more compelling than the stat line suggests. Three-quarters of the way through, SVG found himself buried outside the top 20 due to the pit strategy chaos that unfolded around him.
When a caution flew early on in the final stage, several crew chiefs brought their drivers to pit road early. Those stops came right on the fringes of the fuel window, ultimately requiring conservation under green for the remainder of the race. Van Gisbergen was part of a group that stayed out under that caution. With no subsequent yellow flag, it became clear he would need to pit under green flag conditions. SVG took service with 24 laps remaining and rejoined the race more than 29 seconds behind leader Ty Gibbs.
What followed was a masterclass. Armed with fresh tires and nothing to lose, van Gisbergen carved through the field at a pace no one could match. He not only ran down Gibbs — he drove away to win by over seven seconds. Gibbs did hang on to finish third, crossing the line a whopping 16 seconds after SVG.
Strategy played a role, but what SVG did in those final 24 laps may be the most impressive road racing display the NASCAR Cup Series has ever seen. This win is his seventh on road and street courses, giving him outright victories in half of his career starts in this discipline. No one in the field has an answer for him. He still needs a few more victories to surpass Jeff Gordon’s all-time record of nine road course wins, but at this rate that milestone is a matter of when, not if.
Fans would be wise to appreciate what they are watching — the greatest road racer in the history of stock car racing.
Tires Matter at Watkins Glen
As the race unfolded, it became clear that tire management would be as decisive a factor as any strategic call made on pit road. Marbles built up quickly outside the primary racing groove across the 2.45-mile circuit, and the degradation only accelerated as the laps wound down.
Fresh rubber was the great equalizer on Sunday. After pitting under green, van Gisbergen was regularly running two full seconds per lap quicker than the leaders on worn tires. Superior skills and fuel conservation were contributing factors, but the tire advantage may have been the biggest variable of all.
The finishing order beyond the race winner told the same story. Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger both executed a similar late pit strategy, cycling back through the field from deep positions in the closing laps. Despite the deficit, both delivered — McDowell came home second while Allmendinger charged back to finish seventh.
Significant tire falloff also defined last year’s Watkins Glen race, which some attributed to the intense August heat. That theory can largely be put to rest after this weekend. Cooler temperatures in the Finger Lakes region did nothing to slow the degradation — if anything, the combination of NASCAR’s 750-horsepower package and a quicker overall pace contributed to the falloff.
This marked just the second road course outing for the 750-horsepower setup, following its debut at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season. The data from Watkins Glen will be worth monitoring as the series heads to additional road venues later in the year.
Hendrick Motorsports Missing in Action
It wasn’t long ago that Watkins Glen International was practically Hendrick Motorsports’ playground. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and William Byron combined for all five NASCAR Cup Series victories at this track from 2018 through 2023. On Sunday, that group was nowhere to be found.
The warning signs were there in qualifying, where all four HMS entries slotted in below expectations. The race itself was even worse. Byron never had a chance to factor in — he was collected in an incident that broke a right rear toe link on his No. 24 Chevrolet, relegating him to a 36th-place finish three laps down. Larson, Elliott and Alex Bowman crossed the line 23rd, 24th and 25th respectively.
What made the performance particularly alarming was the lack of presence throughout the entire afternoon. None of the three healthy HMS cars were ever a factor strategically or on the timing charts. They barely registered on the FOX broadcast. Elliott even attempted to stay out at the end of Stage One in a bid to score stage points and came up empty there too.
Whether this is a one-off bad weekend at a track that has historically suited their cars or a sign of a deeper setup issue on road courses remains to be seen. However, for an organization that owned Watkins Glen for half a decade, Sunday was a performance that demands answers.
