NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen

Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Cup Series have taken place at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the 2.454-mile (3.949 km) road course annually since 1986. Since 2018, the 90-lap, 221-mile (356 km) race has been known as Go Bowling at The Glen for sponsorship reasons. It is currently one of five road courses on the schedule as of 2024.

Go Bowling at The Glen

NASCAR Cup Series
Venue	Watkins Glen International
Location	Watkins Glen, New York, United States
Corporate sponsor	Go Bowling
First race	1957
Distance	220.86 miles (355.440 km)
Laps	90 Stages 1/2: 20 each Final stage: 50
Previous names	The Glen 101.2 (1957) The Glen 151.8 (1964–1965) The Budweiser At The Glen (1986–1989) Budweiser At The Glen (1990–1993) The Bud At The Glen (1994–1998) Frontier @ the Glen (1999) Global Crossing @ The Glen (2000–2001) Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen (2002–2005) AMD at the Glen (2006) Centurion Boats at the Glen (2007–2008) Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen (2009–2011) Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen (2012) Cheez-It 355 at the Glen (2013–2016) I Love New York 355 at The Glen (2017)
Most wins (driver)	Tony Stewart (5)
Most wins (team)	Hendrick Motorsports (11)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chevrolet (22)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt
Length	2.454 mi (3.949 km)
Turns	7

Chris Buescher is the defending race winner in 2024.

History

Prior to 1986, three races were held in 1957 (in one of the track's first professional races), as well in 1964 and 1965. These races were held in the track's original configuration, which was 2.35 miles long.

The current NASCAR Cup race at the track began in 1986, utilizing a shortened 2.45 mile course. Following the 1991 death of J. D. McDuffie in a crash in the Outer Loop, at the end of the backstretch, and a subsequent, serious crash by IMSA driver, Tommy Kendall, the Inner Loop "bus stop" chicane was added just before the Outer Loop. NASCAR has since utilized this 2.45-mile (3.94 km) "short course," and has never utilized the "Boot" as IndyCar and Formula One have. Some drivers, however, have proposed the use of the full course.

During a 2011 Mobil Oil "Car Swap" at Watkins Glen using the course, Tony Stewart pushed for using the Grand Prix course after driving demonstration laps in both his Chevrolet Impala and the majority of his laps in a McLaren MP4-23 as part of the event with Lewis Hamilton.

ESPN broadcast the race from 1986 to 2000, then again in 2007 to 2014. Starting in 2015 (current contract), NBC had the rights to broadcast the race but the 2015 edition was aired on NBCSN. In 2016, the race was put on USA Network because of the 2016 Summer Olympics airing on NBC and NBCSN. Beginning in 2017, NBC decided to broadcast this race in the style of radio where various analysts would be placed on the course to report what they see in their section of the track to the viewer.

In 2015, more than 95,000 people watched the race.

In 2020, the race was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The State of New York was requiring travelers from several states to isolate for 14 days (including North Carolina, where most of NASCAR's teams are located, and Florida, where NASCAR's corporate offices are), and not giving the series a quarantine waiver to enter the state. NASCAR instead held a race on the Daytona International Speedway road course, the Go Bowling 235.

2024's running of this race was moved to September was the second race of the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Watkins Glen's stint in the playoffs was short lived however, as when the 2025 schedule came out, Watkins Glen returned to it's typical August date.

Past winners

Year	Date	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Sponsor	Race distance		Race time	Average speed (mph)	Report	Ref
							Laps	Miles (km)
2.3 miles (3.7 km) Layout
1957	August 4	87	Buck Baker	Buck Baker	Chevrolet	Oates Motor Company	44	101.2 (162.865)	1:13:06	83.064	Report
1958 – 1963	Not held
1964	July 19	1	Billy Wade	Bud Moore Engineering	Mercury	N/A	66	151.8 (244.298)	1:32:57	97.988	Report
1965	July 18	21	Marvin Panch	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	Harvest Ford	66	151.8 (244.298)	1:32:46	98.182	Report
1966 – 1985	Not held
2.428 miles (3.907 km) Layout (Pre inner loop chicane)
1986	August 10	25	Tim Richmond	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Folgers	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:12:56	90.463	Report
1987	August 10*	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	Kodiak	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:24:36	90.682	Report
1988	August 14	26	Ricky Rudd	King Racing	Buick	Quaker State	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:56:58	74.096	Report
1989	August 13	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	Kodiak	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:26:55	87.242	Report
1990	August 12	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Levi Garrett	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:21:49	92.452	Report
1991	August 11	4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kodak Film	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:12:28	98.977	Report
2.454 miles (3.949 km) Layout with Inner Loop chicane
1992	August 9	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	Mello Yello	51*	125.154 (201.415)	1:27:21	88.980	Report
1993	August 8	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Valvoline	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:36:04	84.771	Report
1994	August 14	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Valvoline/Reese's	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:21:07	93.752	Report
1995	August 13	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Valvoline	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:11:54	103.030	Report
1996	August 11	7	Geoffrey Bodine	Geoff Bodine Racing	Ford	QVC	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:17	92.334	Report
1997	August 10	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	DuPont	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:55	91.294	Report
1998	August 9	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	DuPont	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:20:03	94.466	Report
1999	August 15	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	DuPont	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:30:49	87.722	Report
2000	August 13	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	Pennzoil	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:51	91.336	Report
2001	August 12	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	DuPont	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:28:31	89.081	Report
2002	August 11	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	The Home Depot	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:40:56	82.208	Report
2003	August 10	31	Robby Gordon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Cingular Wireless/FDNY/USA Special Olympics	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:17	90.441	Report
2004	August 15	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:25	92.249	Report
2005	August 14	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:35:48	86.804	Report
2006	August 13	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:52:27	76.718	Report
2007	August 12	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:50:38	77.535	Report
2008	August 10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	M&M's	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:16:11	97.148	Report
2009	August 10*	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	Old Spice/Office Depot	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:31	90.297	Report
2010	August 8	42	Juan Pablo Montoya*	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	_target	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:52	91.960	Report
2011	August 15*	9	Marcos Ambrose*	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	Stanley/DeWalt	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:16:02	99.417	Report
2012	August 12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	Stanley/DeWalt	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:14:48	98.145	Report
2013	August 11	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	M&M's	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:32:04	87.001	Report
2014	August 10	47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	Scott/Kingsford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:48	90.123	Report
2015	August 9	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	Shell/Pennzoil	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:43	91.42	Report
2016	August 7	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	FedEx Freight	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:27:48	89.513	Report
2017	August 6	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	Furniture Row/Denver Mattress	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:07:03	104.132	Report
2018	August 5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Sun Energy 1	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:13:44	98.928	Report
2019	August 4	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	NAPA Auto Parts	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:14:17	98.523	Report
2020*	August 16	Moved to Daytona road course due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021	August 8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:10:57	101.031	Report
2022	August 21	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:17:52	95.962	Report
2023	August 20	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Valvoline	90	220.5 (354.86)	1:58:44*	111.426	Report
2024	September 15	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	BuildSubmarines.com	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:38:41	80.226	Report

• 1987, 2009, & 2011: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 1992: Race shortened due to rain.
• 2005, 2011, & 2024: Race extended due to NASCAR Overtime.
• 2020: Race canceled and moved to the Daytona road course due to quarantine requirements in New York associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 2023: Fastest full race time-wise in the NASCAR Modern Era (1972–), taking just 1 hour, 58 minutes, and 44 seconds to complete the full distance.

Multiple winners (drivers)

# of wins	Driver	Years won
5	Tony Stewart	2002, 2004–2005, 2007, 2009
4	Jeff Gordon	1997–1999, 2001
3	Mark Martin	1993–1995
2	Rusty Wallace	1987, 1989
	Ricky Rudd	1988, 1990
	Marcos Ambrose	2011–2012
	Kyle Busch	2008, 2013
	Chase Elliott	2018–2019
	Kyle Larson	2021–2022

Multiple winners (teams)

# of wins	Team	Years won
11	Hendrick Motorsports	1986, 1990, 1997–1999, 2001, 2018–2019, 2021–2023
7	Joe Gibbs Racing	2002, 2004–2005, 2007–2008, 2013, 2016
4	Roush Racing/RFK Racing	1993–1995, 2024
2	Blue Max Racing	1987, 1989
	Richard Childress Racing	2003, 2006
	Richard Petty Motorsports	2011–2012

Manufacturer wins

# of wins	Manufacturer	Years won
22	Chevrolet	1957, 1986, 1990–1991, 1997–2001, 2003–2007, 2009–2010, 2014, 2018–2019, 2021–2023
9	Ford	1965, 1993–1996, 2011–2012, 2015, 2024
4	Pontiac	1987, 1989, 1992, 2002
	Toyota	2008, 2013, 2016–2017
1	Mercury	1964
	Buick	1988

Race summaries

• 1986: The true inaugural running of this race, resulted in Geoff Bodine leading the most laps. Tim Richmond won the race after Bodine made too long of a pit stop with less than 10 laps to go.
• 1989: On the day that Tim Richmond, who in 1986 won the first Budweiser at the Glen race since NASCAR returned to Watkins Glen, lost his battle with AIDS; eventual 1989 Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace became the first driver to win this race a second time (Wallace having previously won in 1987).
• 1991: Ernie Irvan won the race but the race was overshadowed by the death of NASCAR pioneer J. D. McDuffie during a crash on lap 5. Also during this race Richard Petty collected his final Top 10 finish, coming in 9th.
• 1992: Rain pushed back the start of the race more than three hours, and with rain expected to move back into the area, teams expected the race to be a sprint to the halfway point. Kyle Petty won a heated battle for the lead with Ernie Irvan between laps 32–36. After a caution, the race was restarted on lap 44, one lap before the halfway point. Petty brushed off then-leader Dick Trickle on lap 45 and on lap 46, the skies opened. After five laps under caution, the race was red-flagged, with Petty declared the winner. 1992 would be the only season Kyle Petty won multiple races.
• 1995: Wally Dallenbach Jr. appeared to have had the win wrapped up, but a caution with 9 laps to go resulted in him being passed by former teammate Mark Martin on a final restart.
• 1996: Two weeks after suffering a broken collarbone and sternum in a crash at Talladega, and one week after stepping out of the car at Indianapolis, Dale Earnhardt won the pole position with a track record of 120.733 mph. Earnhardt was quoted as saying "It hurt so good." Earnhardt led 54 laps, but Geoff Bodine stole the victory when he short-pitted on his final stop. Bodine pitted early, and with newer tires, made up track position while everyone else pitted to hold the lead. It was Earnhardt's final career pole, and Bodine's final career win.
• 1999: Jeff Gordon started on pole, led the most laps and held off Ron Fellows for the win.
• 2000: After Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart tangled early, Jeff Gordon's hopes to win four consecutive Watkins Glen races ended. Steve Park won his first Cup series race.
• 2001: Jeff Gordon got redemption from his 2000 heartbreak by winning the race. Road expert Robby Gordon led the most laps and had the winning car but a pit road fire ended his hopes for his first Cup series victory.
• 2002: A week after nearly being fired by his team for an incident in the Brickyard 400, Tony Stewart led the most laps alongside Robby Gordon and won the race. The race ended in controversy because it was discovered that Stewart had jumped the final restart.
• 2004: A very sick Tony Stewart gutted through a sinus infection, food poisoning and stomach pains, and held off Ron Fellows to win the race.
• 2007: Jeff Gordon led the most laps, but spun out with 2 laps to go, handing the win to Stewart.
• 2008: Michael McDowell punted David Gilliland into the barriers on the frontstretch and caused a huge melee including Sam Hornish Jr. hitting the sand barriers and Bobby Labonte hitting the armco hard and going to the hospital for a hand injury. Gilliland got hit by other cars 3 times. A total of 9 cars were involved including Dave Blaney, Reed Sorenson, Michael Waltrip, Max Papis, and Joe Nemechek. Kyle Busch won the race, the 8th and final win of his 2008 campaign.
• 2009: Tony Stewart won his record 5th Watkins Glen race. The race was marred by a huge accident involving Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton. Kasey Kahne was racing with Hornish out of turn 9 where Kasey got loose and got into Hornish sending Hornish into the tire barriers. Hornish shot back across the track right in front of Jeff Gordon which sent Gordon into the Armco barrier head on. Hornish's fuel cell came out of his car from Gordon's impact. Hornish was then hit again by Jeff Burton which nearly sent Hornish on his side. Other cars including Joey Logano and Andy Lally were involved for running over debris.
• 2010: Juan Pablo Montoya ended a 113 race winless streak and won in dominating fashion, beating Marcos Ambrose for the win, thus making him the first foreign-born driver to win multiple NASCAR Cup races.
• 2011: Marcos Ambrose's first career Cup series victory over Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. David Reutimann flipped over violently after hitting the armco barrier head on into the fence after contact from Boris Said and David Ragan.
• 2012: Oil that dropped on the track by Bobby Labonte led to a dramatic finish as a caution was not called. Leader Kyle Busch lost control and spun off the bumper of Brad Keselowski in the Esses on the final lap, leaving Keselowski and Ambrose to battle both each other and the adverse track conditions, banging off of and passing each other several times during the lap. They even went through the grass at one point. Ambrose won the race after Keselowski got loose in the oil off-turn eleven and backed out of the throttle.
• 2014: A. J. Allmendinger won his first Cup victory, after a lengthy marathon that included two red flags for track repair caused by serious accidents: the first for a severe accident in which Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell crashed in the exit to turn 5, which saw McDowell's rear wheel housing break off and puncture a hole in the Armco barriers, and a second one caused by Denny Hamlin crashing into the gravel barrels at the entrance to pit road.
• 2015: An accordion wreck happened on the front stretch, fluid was on the track, which led to a nine-minute three second red flag to facilitate cleanup on the track, A. J. Allmendinger's car lost power, and came to a stop past turn 10. Joey Logano took advantage of fuel problems for Kevin Harvick and won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen and second of the season.
• 2016: Denny Hamlin passed Martin Truex Jr. late in the race to win his first road course victory and avenging his 2007 runner-up at the Glen. On the final lap, Truex got spun by Brad Keselowski and finished 8th while Kyle Larson expressed discontent with A. J. Allmendinger for spinning him on the final lap as well. Truex and Larson both voiced their displeasure with their adversaries through slight contact with Keselowski & Allmendinger after the race ended, during the cool-down lap.
• 2017: Martin Truex Jr. overcame adversity from the race last year by winning over Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer while saving fuel. The race was run in just over two hours, the shortest race by time in the Modern Era at the time.
• 2018: Chase Elliott earned his first Cup Series win after holding off Martin Truex Jr., the defending winner. Truex Jr.'s No. 78 ran out of fuel on the last lap while behind Elliott and he managed to hold on to 2nd place.
• 2019: Elliott won his second race in a row at the track, again beating Truex Jr.
• 2021: No race was held in 2020, but Truex led the most laps in the 2021 edition. However, he finished third to Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.
• 2022: Elliott and Larson started up front, but the first part of the race was run under wet track conditions. After halfway, Elliott and Larson drove away from third-place Michael McDowell. Larson took the lead after contact with Elliott on a late restart to take the win, relegating Elliott to fourth. Seven countries were represented in the race, a NASCAR record (besides the full-time contingent of drivers from the United States and full-time driver Daniel Suarez of Mexico in Trackhouse Racing's 99 car, competing in the race were Team Hezeberg teammates Daniil Kvyat of Russia and Loris Hezemans of the Netherlands, Kyle Tilley of England in the 78 car for Live Fast Motorsports, Mike Rockenfeller of Germany in the 77 car for Spire Motorsports, and 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland debuting Trackhouse's Project91 program).

External links

• Watkins Glen International race results at Racing-Reference