With no need for the Goodyear wet weather radials brought to the track just in case, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 30th annual CHEEZ-It 355 at the Watkins Glen International road course.
It was, for the most part, a race about nothing. This is not to say that Watkins Glen was boring, for it was actually one of those pleasant occurrences where we had an event that actually was entertaining enough to keep us watching. The damndest things can happen on a road course, and they did.
I awoke this morning to a great shock when I learned that Buddy Baker had passed on so swiftly. It was only about six weeks ago when I heard Buddy had inoperable cancer and would be leaving his Sirius Satellite Radio program he co-hosted with Brad Gillie.
“This is the coolest weekend of my life," Logano exclaimed. "Every driver wants to add a road course victory to their resume. This is a dream come true to win at this place.”
Another Zippo 200 for the NASCAR XFINITY Series is in the books, and in traditional form, this afternoon’s edition was nothing less than exciting. When the dust settled, it was Joey Logano overcoming adversity and taking the checkered flag here at Watkins Glen International.
Last year’s winner at Watkins Glen will begin his quest to repeat in 2015 from the point position in tomorrow’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. AJ Allmendinger won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 30th Annual Cheez-It 355 at The Glen with a lap of 68.993 seconds, 127.839 mph.
Jeff Gordon has had great success at Watkins Glen and in what is his last time running at the road course in upstate New York. Gordon has 4 wins, 6 top 5’s and an average finish of 14.8. Jeff was asked what the road courses meant to his career. “I think early on I just remember wanting to take on every challenge as a team that we possibly could to improve to be a bigger threat for the championship,” he said.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series travel to Watkins Glen International this week while the Camping World Truck Series is off. All Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series practices, qualifying sessions and races can be seen on NBC Sports Live Extra. The full schedule is listed below.
Still, rain at Watkins Glen means racing. Take off the slicks, replace them with rain tread, and off they go. There is a possibility of rain, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among those who would not mind using the wipers. Of course, you just got to know that come Sunday the sun shall be shining.
Kyle Busch: Busch inherited the lead when Joey Logano ran out of gas with three laps to go, but Logano’s misfortune was a harbinger of the same for Busch, whose tank ran dry with one lap to go. Busch finished
The 23-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, clocked in a pole-winning lap at 173.061 mph in 32.035 seconds for his sixth O'Reilly career pole and second straight of 2026 at EchoPark Speedway.
The 24-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, clocked in a pole-winning lap at 99.115 mph in 53.683 seconds for his fifth Truck career pole and first on a road course in Lakeville, Connecticut.
Jacob Denney was entering the two-night affair at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Fairbury, Nebraska, with tons of momentum and seeking back-to-back victories.
The 21-year-old Annunziata from Colts Neck, New Jersey, led all but nine of 68 laps en route to his second consecutive ARCA Menards Series career victory in Lakeville, Connecticut.
