Garrett Smithley
JD Motorsports with Gary Keller
Chevrolet 0
Watkins Glen International preview
Zippo 200
Saturday, Aug. 6
The race: 200 miles, 82 laps; race 20 of 33
SMITHLEY TAKES ON WATKINS GLEN
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – This weekend, Watkins Glen International gets “real” for Garrett Smithley.
Smithley has driven the road course, one of the most famous in the world, many times in video games and simulators. On Saturday, he drives on the real thing for the first time in the Zippo 200 Xfinity Series race.
“Oh, man, time for some road racing!” Smithley said. “I’ve been looking forward to racing Watkins Glen since I got my first NASCAR video game like 15 years ago. It’s consistently been my favorite road course in any game or simulator I’ve played.
“Naturally, I have been making a lot of laps on iRacing at home to prepare. My stock car road racing experience is limited, but I’ve won road races in Legends cars and have driven some of the
Exotic cars when I worked for the Richard Petty Driving Experience, so I’m really, really excited for these three races coming up.”
All drivers will be riding into a bit of the unknown this weekend because the track has been repaved since NASCAR last visited.
Because of the repave, teams have additional practice this week. Sessions are scheduled at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday. Qualifying is set for 4:45 p.m. Friday, with the race green flag set for 2 p.m. Saturday.
