WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL (2.45-MILE ROAD COURSE)
LOCATION: WATKINS GLEN, NEW YORK
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 22 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 2:30 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 (USA/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 36 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
16th in standings
21 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
2 top-five finishes
6 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
453 starts
17 wins
27 pole positions
88 top-five finishes
162 top-10 finishes
4,607 laps led
Track Career
12 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
3 laps led
WATKINS GLEN TEST: Kasey Kahne and the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS team have already visited Watkins Glen once this season. The No. 5 team completed a two-day tire test on May 10 and 11. In Kahne’s 12 starts at the 2.45-mile road course, he recorded a best finish of 12th in 2014 after he led three laps. The Enumclaw, Washington, native’s best qualifying effort at the track was in 2006 when he started from the outside pole position. Kahne has also completed 98.6 percent of the 1,084 laps he’s run at the New York track.
WATKINS GLEN LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data, Kahne is first in the green-flag passes category with 547. He’s third fastest on restarts with a speed of 117.054 mph and is 10th in quality passes with 171.
GREAT CLIPS #MOREMINUTES: Save #MoreMinutes during the busy back-to-school season by using the Great Clips check-in app or checking in online for a haircut at your local salon. #MoreMinutes will adorn the TV panel of Kahne’s No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS this weekend at Watkins Glen International. Great Clips is asking fans to share a selfie of your new haircut via Twitter or Instagram and tell them what you would do with #MoreMinutes.
ROAD COURSE STATISTICS: In the last 10 Sprint Cup road course races, Kahne has completed the sixth-most laps among active drivers with 996. He has four top-10 finishes and an average finish of 17.0. In Kahne’s only other road course start this season at Sonoma Raceway, he finished ninth.
No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS / Chase Elliott
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 20 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
13th in standings
21 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
6 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
118 laps led
Career
26 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
6 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
118 laps led
Track Career
0 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS, will be available to members of the media on Friday, Aug. 5, at 11:15 a.m. ET in the Watkins Glen International media center.
SPORTING SUNENERGY1: For the second time in the 2016 season, SunEnergy1 will be the primary partner on board Rookie of the Year contender Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS this weekend at Watkins Glen International. It will mark the first time this year that Elliott and SunEnergy1 owner Kenny Habul will compete in nearly identical paint schemes — Habul in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series while Elliott will continue his 2016 campaign in the Sprint Cup Series. Elliott plans to head out to the pre-race grid on Saturday to see the SunEnergy1 Chevrolet Camaro off prior to the XFINITY Series event.
SEASON STANDINGS: Elliott currently sits 13th in the standings with 533 points. The rookie trails leader Kevin Harvick by 176 markers. The 20-year-old is younger than any other driver currently inside the top 16 – the amount of drivers NASCAR takes into its playoffs – while also being the highest-ranked rookie.
ROAD COURSE ROOKIE: Elliott will make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup road course start this weekend at Watkins Glen International. However, the road course rookie will have a few additional miles under his belt as he took part in a test at The Glen on July 26 and July 27. In addition to his Sprint Cup road course debut at Sonoma Raceway earlier this year, Elliott has competed in six road course races in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series, earning four top-five finishes. He has also competed in one Camping World Truck Series road course event, scoring a victory, and three ARCA Racing road course races, earning top-five finishes in each.
TOP-RANKED ROOKIE: Elliott leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings heading into Watkins Glen by 47 points over second-place Ryan Blaney and 76 points over third-place Brian Scott. Elliott has accumulated a total of 245 rookie points this year through the first 20 points-paying races.
RADIO CHATTER: Alan Gustafson and spotter Eddie D’Hondt won’t be the only voices that Elliott will hear on the radio this weekend as his father, Bill Elliott, will once again perform second spotter duties. A NASCAR Hall of Famer and 1998 NASCAR premier series championship driver, the elder Elliott owns one victory and 10 top-five finishes on road courses in his career and is looking to help his son excel at the road course circuit this weekend. This will be the third race that the two Elliotts have worked side-by-side. Bill Elliott was in the second spotter role at Sonoma Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!: Elliott’s photo is adorning newsstands in Georgia this summer as he graces the cover of Georgia Magazine’s August issue. Earlier this year, Elliott talked with his home state magazine on growing up in Georgia, his parents’ role in his success thus far and racing for Hendrick Motorsports. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is accompanied in the issue by fellow Georgian athletes Reese Hoffa, Jenny Arthur and two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock – all of whom are competing in the Rio Olympics later this month. To read more on Elliott’s cover feature, visit georgiamagazine.com.
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 40 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2016 Season
7th in standings
21 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
7 top-five finishes
8 top-10 finishes
229 laps led
Career
528 starts
77 wins
35 pole positions
214 top-five finishes
322 top-10 finishes
17,938 laps led
Track Career
14 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
4 top-five finishes
8 top-10 finishes
17 laps led
HELMET OF HOPE: Jimmie Johnson will wear the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope, which features five charities working to improve K-12 public education, during the race this weekend at Watkins Glen International. The five charities selected this year include: ArtWell in Philadelphia; Carlos Gilbert Elementary Parents! Teachers! Kids! in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Change for Kids in New York City; Inside the Outdoors Foundation in Costa Mesa, California, and Mercy Child Advocacy Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION PAINT OUT: In addition to the Helmet of Hope, Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet will feature the special star logos of the Jimmie Johnson Foundation 10th Anniversary paint scheme. Johnson has been quite successful running the paint scheme with three wins, two top-five finishes and three top-10s. This year the paint scheme celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Jimmie Johnson Foundation and features the foundation’s programs and activities, including the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope, the Champions Grant program, the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Wellness Challenge and Team Up For Technology. To date, the Jimmie Johnson Foundation has contributed more than $8.8 million to schools and non-profits across the country.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAD: Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus will celebrate a birthday on Aug. 5. Knaus, who got his racing start in hometown Rockford, Illinois, and has served as Johnson’s crew chief since 2002, will turn 45.
FIFTH-HIGHEST DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Johnson has the fifth-best driver rating at Watkins Glen with a score of 98.4 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
HOMETOWN CONNECTION: Longtime engine tuner John Boydston hails from Oswego, New York, which is about 95 miles north of Watkins Glen.
WINLESS AT WATKINS GLEN: Of the 77 career wins Johnson has accumulated over his 16-year career, Johnson has yet to see Victory Lane at Watkins Glen. The other “winless” tracks Johnson has his sights set on include Chicago, Kentucky and Homestead-Miami.
UPCOMING JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION WELLNESS CHALLENGE EVENT: Registration is open for the Lake Davidson Sprint Triathlon taking place on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016 at 8 a.m. on the Ingersoll Rand Campus in Davidson, North Carolina. Log on to www.jjfwellnesschallenge.org for more details.
No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS / Jeff Gordon
Driver Jeff Gordon Hometown Pittsboro, Indiana
Age 44 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2016 Season
2 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
799 starts
93 wins
81 pole positions
325 top-five finishes
475 top-10 finishes
24,929 laps led
Track Career
23 starts
4 wins
3 pole positions
6 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
262 laps led
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet, will be available to members of the media on Friday, Aug. 5, at 12 p.m. ET in the Watkins Glen International media center.
EARNHARDT UPDATE: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports, has not been cleared by physicians to compete in at least the next two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events. It will be the fourth consecutive race he has missed as he continues to recover from a concussion. Earnhardt underwent further evaluation Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program. The driver said on his weekly The Dale Jr. Download podcast that he continues to experience issues with balance and gaze stabilization.
KEEPING ON: Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet SS for the third week in a row. Gordon, who filled in for Earnhardt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 24) and Pocono Raceway (Aug. 1), will compete this weekend at the newly repaved, 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course. Gordon, who will celebrate his 45th birthday on Thursday, will fill in for Earnhardt a fourth time in the Aug. 20 event at Bristol Motor Speedway.
MILESTONE START: Gordon, who will be driving the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS at Watkins Glen, will make his 800th career NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend. He has made all 799 of his career Cup starts while driving for car owner Rick Hendrick. In addition to his four championships (1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001), Gordon has earned 93 Cup victories, which ranks him third on the all-time wins list. He’s a three-time Daytona 500 winner, a record five-time Brickyard 400 winner and has seven wins at Darlington Raceway. He has racked up 81 poles, which also ranks him third on the all-time pole award winner’s list, 325 top-five finishes, 475 top-10s and has led a total of 24,929 laps in his 24-year career.
KING OF THE ROAD: Gordon is NASCAR’s all-time leader with nine road course victories, including four at Watkins Glen, which is one shy of the track record of five held by Tony Stewart. Gordon is the all-time lap leader at the seven-turn facility with 262 laps led, 37 more than Stewart who ranks second.
AXALTA PARTNER: Axalta is able to leverage its sponsorship of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS at Hendrick Motorsports to add value for its partners. This weekend at the Glen, Axalta will have Lithia Motors Inc. on the TV panel of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS. The Oregon-based auto retailer recently expanded with the purchase of DCH Auto Group, whose name will be featured on the rear roof strip of the No. 88 Chevrolet. For more news and updates on the Axalta Racing program, visit the website: http://www.axaltaracing.com/.
TIES TO HOME: No. 88 spotter T.J. Majors, who is known for his calls of “Door. Bumper. Clear.” over the in-car radio, lists Watkins Glen International as his home track. He was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, but grew up in East Bethany, New York, before moving to Mooresville, North Carolina, where he lives with wife Tamela and daughter Madelynn. Majors, who was introduced to Earnhardt via online iRacing in 1997, began spotting for the driver at the end of the 2007 season and has continued with the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 team since Earnhardt joined in 2008. He also spots for a variety of teams in other series, including Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT WATKINS GLEN: In 30 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 WGI 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.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 242 victories, 209 pole positions, 1,000 top-five finishes and 1,668 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 65,417 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“It’s smoother, but to me it’s the same Watkins Glen. The transitions and things are a little smoother but that’s just new pavement compared to old pavement. The curbing is different on some of the corners. On the new curbing, it’s understanding those curbs and exactly how much you can get on them and how much you can’t. Just driving around the track it doesn’t feel much different than it has in the past.”
Kasey Kahne on the repaved Watkins Glen
“We were the car that was picked to go do the Watkins Glen tire test. The repave is a change in some aspects, but it’s also the same Watkins Glen. It still has a lot of grip – the place has not lost that character. I’m just going to try to focus on the fundamentals of road course racing and do that correctly. The rest should take care of itself. We have SunEnergy1 on the car again this weekend too, so I’m looking forward to having those guys back as well. Kenny (Habul, owner of SunEnergy1) will be in the same colors on the XFINITY side so that will be neat.”
Chase Elliott on Watkins Glen
“I am proud to highlight the great work of these charities on my Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope this weekend. Because of the generosity of our amazing partners, Chandra (wife) and I have been able to support some incredible schools and non-profits in the 10 years since we launched the Foundation. We’d like to thank Lowe’s for allowing us to run the Foundation paint scheme for the eleventh time and Blue Bunny for sponsoring the Helmet of Hope program again this year. We are so grateful.”
Jimmie Johnson on representing the Jimmie Johnson Foundation
“Watkins Glen is a more flowy track than Sonoma for us. I think it probably compliments our cars a bit better, but it’s much more difficult on the brakes. The brake systems have to deal with a lot more. It really sort of becomes the weakest link. At Sonoma you can’t hurt the brakes, you can go 100 percent every lap, every corner. But I believe brakes will kind of be the topic of discussion while we are there. We are hoping for a good race for the Lowe’s Chevy.”
Johnson on racing at Watkins Glen
“I am committed to be there for Hendrick Motorsports and this (No. 88) team in any way that they need me. I think there is a balance between trying to make this transition. First of all, you want Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) to have the comfort of knowing that somebody is there for him, so he doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of it through this process. He can just get well at the pace that is the right pace to do it. So, nobody is putting any pressure or timeframe on that. Then there is the side of who is the best person to be in the car to get the most points, and there is the sponsorship side of it as well. So far from what Rick (Hendrick) is telling me, that seems to be me.
“I am looking at this as a very temporary thing. I’m really more excited right now about my engagement at Hendrick Motorsports and helping Rick (Hendrick) and Doug Duchardt and Ken Howes and Marshall Carlson and everybody there trying to find out where we can be better, how we can be more competitive and that role in those meetings more so than driving the race car. But, being in the race car does help me do a better job with that as well.”
Jeff Gordon on continuing in his role as the substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“A big focus will be to make sure we don’t have any brake failures. I have some concerns with the aero package having less downforce, less drag and on a new surface like Watkins Glen, you are going to be driving in the corners much deeper and using a lot more brakes. We have already seen brake temps be an issue at some of the tracks this year.”
Gordon on Watkins Glen
