NASCAR O'Reilly Series

Ryan Reed drove his No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang to a 15th-place finish Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen. Reed showed off some road course skills, finishing final practice fourth and making the final round of qualifying. Different pit strategies unfolded with late race cautions and a gamble for four tires at the end did not turn out to be as beneficial as the team had hoped.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 12 Snap-On Ford Mustang (Finished 2nd) -- “It’s fun. Dang, I wish it was for the win and not for second. I had such a good short run car, just in the wrong position to start that last run. I feel like if I was second I could have won the race. I just had a really good short run car. Our long run speed was off a bit and that’s when the 18 and 22 would drive by us and we were a third-place car on the long run but probably a winning car on the short run. By time I cleared the 22 the 18 was gone. If we had another four or five laps (he would have drove off again). I needed a caution”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 12 Snap-On Ford Mustang -- “We were a third place car on the long run and maybe a first place car for the first two laps of every run. It just depended on what type of race we had. We had some issues on pit road with a lugnut getting stuck behind a wheel and lost a lot of track position. Once we got to third I went into cruise control to save my stuff and hope for a late-race restart and boom, we had one. I thought it was my chance but just couldn’t accelerate as good as Kyle (Busch) and wasn’t able to stay with him. Brad (Keselowski) and I had a fun battle to the end. By the time I got by Brad the 18 was just too far in front of me. It was a little too late. Maybe one more restart and one of those green-white-checkered things would have been nice. Overall, to start on the pole and be the runner-up doesn’t always feel good but we did learn some things for tomorrow.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 12 Snap-On Ford Mustang (Finished 2nd) -- “It’s fun. Dang, I wish it was for the win and not for second. I had such a good short run car, just in the wrong position to start that last run. I feel like if I was second I could have won the race. I just had a really good short run car. Our long run speed was off a bit and that’s when the 18 and 22 would drive by us and we were a third-place car on the long run but probably a winning car on the short run. By time I cleared the 22 the 18 was gone. If we had another four or five laps (he would have drove off again). I needed a caution”

NASCAR heads to the Finger Lakes Region of New York for the second road course race of the season at Watkins Glen International with both the XFINITY Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in action. Please check below for the complete schedule of events. All times are Eastern.

Still riding a strong summer stretch, Ross Chastain will drive the Protect Your Melon Chevrolet in Saturday’s Zippo 200 Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen.

It’s Race One for Harrison Rhodes at Watkins Glen International, the world-famous road racing course in New York. Rhodes will drive the Great Outdoors RV Superstore Chevrolet in Saturday’s Zippo 200, an 82-lap race around the 2.45-mile course.

Smithley will drive the Taughannock Aviation and Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport Chevrolet in Saturday’s Zippo 200 Xfinity Series race on the Glen road course. Smithley made his debut at Watkins Glen last season, but he had a very short day. He parked after only 13 laps with overheating problems.

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC) and Xfinity Series driver Ross Chastain today held a meet-and-greet at Watkins Glen State Park to promote seat belt use. Chastain’s GTSC-sponsored race car sports the “Protect Your Melon” logo that is part of the campaign to promote the safe driving habit of buckling up.

Roush Fenway Racing returns to the asphalt jungle where dreams are made of, as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) prepares for the second road course race of the 2017 season at Watkins Glen International, just off the corner of 53rd and 3rd. A Roush Fenway Ford has visited victory lane six times at the historic road course.