RYAN PREECE
Watkins Glen Advance
No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Go Bowling at The Glen (Round 25 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 20
● Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
● Layout: 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 90 laps / 220.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Final Stage: 50 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● New York State of Mind: Ryan Preece and the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) are heading to the 2.45-mile, seven-turn Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road-course layout for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at 3 p.m. EDT. Coverage will be live on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

● By The Numbers: Sunday’s race will mark Preece’s third start at the road course in the heart of New York’s Finger Lakes Region. His first outing came in 2019 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. He started 29th but had to retire from the race early due to a rear-gear issue on his No. 47 racecar. He returned with JTG-Daugherty in 2021, when he started 23rd and finished 28th. This weekend will mark his first Cup Series start at the track for SHR and his first since the 2021 race. Preece has made three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Watkins Glen, the first in 2016 for JD Motorsports, when he started 21st but was relegated to a 27th-place finish by a suspension issue. He returned in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry in 2018, when he started eighth and finished fourth and led eight laps. His third Xfinity Series outing at The Glen came in 2019 with JR Motorsports. He started eighth and finished 10th in that event.

●#WorkUnited: This weekend, United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI), the largest equipment rental company in the world, returns to the No. 41 Ford Mustang serving as the primary sponsor. United Rentals has an integrated network of 1,449 rental locations in North America, 13 in Europe, 27 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 24,700 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company offers approximately 4,700 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $19.3 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index®. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Additional information about United Rentals is available at UnitedRentals.com.

● Turns for Troops: In an effort to make every lap a lap of honor, United Rentals is supporting military veterans and families. Through the Turns for Troops program, United Rentals will donate $50 for each lap that one of its three sponsored drivers complete during specific races throughout the season. So far this season, there have been two Turns for Troops races (Phoenix and Michigan). Preece completed all 512 laps possible and raised $25,600 for Operation Homefront. This weekend at Watkins Glen, Preece can raise a total of $4,500 for Operation Homefront if he completes all 90 laps of the race. Funds from the Turns for Troops program will go to Operation Homefront. Click here to learn more.

● Last Weekend: Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang took to the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last Sunday, where he qualified 30th and was not able to overcome an unscheduled pit stop due to a tire issue six laps into the race. He spent the remainder of the race trying to rally toward the front, but the final 77 laps were caution-free and Preece could finish no better than 31st.

● Where He Stands: Preece heads to Watkins Glen 25th in the driver standings with 403 points.

● VIP Race Day Experience: RaceChoice.com, a proud partner of Preece, has launched its second special racing experience giveaway for fans this season. Fans can enter through Sept. 30. The winner will receive airfare and a two-night stay in Phoenix for the season finale race weekend. RaceChoice.com will also give the winners two pit passes for the race and a meet-and-greet with Preece, driver of the No. 41 SHR Ford Mustang. Click here for more information.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

What are the challenges of racing at Watkins Glen, and what is the importance of practice and qualifying there?
“Practice is really key for us. I didn’t necessarily grow up road racing, so it’s really important. I’ve logged laps at Watkins Glen before, most recently in 2021 in the Cup Series. But track position is always a topic, right? There are some things that we worked on in the Ford Performance sim to be able to prepare. But for a driver, it’s getting out there and doing it – the visuals and a lot of the braking marks that you tend to get. I mean, when you think about it, how many laps are we really going to get in practice? I think nine, 10 laps, maybe, which kind of reminds me of the SRX race when we got five laps. The only difference was that I’ve raced at Stafford all my life. So, it’s going to be extremely important to get everything we have out of the racecar and qualify really well.”

What is different about Watkins Glen compared to other road courses on the schedule?
“Comparing the Indy road course and Watkins Glen, it seems to me like going to a short track versus an intermediate track. Watkins Glen is very high-speed and it kind of flows, whereas Indy, it reminds me somewhat of COTA, where it’s a lot of transitions and making your car change direction really quickly – stop-and-go. So, from the short-track style of racing that I’ve done – the heavy braking and a lot of those things – I’m comfortable with that. But there are certainly things that I can do better as a racecar driver to be a better road racer – when it comes to the downshifting and all those things that, really, growing up racing at the short-track level, what I did is different. There’s definitely a lot of training that a driver can do to continue to grow from a road-racing perspective. We saw it at Chicago with Jenson (Button) in the Cup Series – SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) and those guys. They grew up and lived it. There is just a lot of preparation to do for a road race and they’re all different.”

What is your mindset heading into road-course weekends now?

“I mean, our team knows that we’ve got two more chances to make the playoffs and we have to win. That’s my mindset. We need to go out there and execute, make no mistakes, qualify well and be there at the end. From a road-course perspective, I didn’t run Formula 1, IndyCar or V8 Supercars, but it’s always something I’ve enjoyed because of my short-track background – heavy braking and the downshifting. All those little things you do as a race-car driver. The road-course races are ones I look forward to being aggressive and having good days. We didn’t have a good day in Indy last weekend but I’m ready to have a good day at Watkins Glen. I’ve had some good runs there in the past in the Xfinity Series and would love to pull one off this weekend.”

No. 41 United Rentals Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Ryan Preece
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Crew Chief: Chad Johnston

Hometown: Cayuga, Indiana

Car Chief: Tony Cardamone

Hometown: Bristol, Virginia

Engineer: Marc Hendricksen

Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey

Engineer: Scott Bingham

Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Devin Lester

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Rear Tire Changer: Kevin Teaf

Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Fuel Man: Dwayne Moore

Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Joe Zanolini

Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Underneath & Interior Mechanic: Clint Leatherwood

Hometown: Rockmart, Georgia

Shock Specialist: Aaron Kuehn

Hometown: Kensington, Connecticut

Tire Specialist: Matt Ridgway

Hometown: Carrollton, Georgia

Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife

Hometown: Orange, California

Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer

Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania

CHASE BRISCOE
Watkins Glen Race Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Go Bowling at The Glen (Round 25 of 36)

● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 20

● Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International

● Layout: 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course

● Laps/Miles: 90 laps / 220.5 miles

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Final Stage: 50 laps

● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Chase Briscoe and the Mahindra Tractors team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) head to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International looking for back-to-back top-10 road course results after earning a sixth-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Sunday. It was Briscoe’s sixth top-10 of the season and first on a road course in the NextGen car.

● Briscoe finished 29th at Watkins Glen after being caught up in an on-track incident but had a strong Ford Mustang in the debut of the NextGen at the 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course last year. In 2021, he finished ninth in his first Cup Series start at the track.

● The 28-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana, has one Xfinity Series start at Watkins Glen. He started and finished sixth in 2019.

● It’s a doubleheader weekend for Mahindra Tractors as the SHR partner joins Briscoe at the dirt track Friday night. Before climbing behind the wheel of his Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang, Briscoe will make his return to Sprint Car racing at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, New York. He’ll pilot a 410 Sprint Car in the All-Star Circuit of Champions event, which will be streamed live on FloRacing.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You just had your best finish since April and a lot has changed for the No. 14 team since then. Is there a chance to improve on that sixth-place finish from last weekend with back-to-back road course races?

“I’m looking forward to staying in the road-course rhythm. Last year, we were really good at Watkins Glen, winning the first stage, but then got caught up in a wreck and couldn’t really get it together. We had a lot of speed, so hopefully we’ll have that again this year. And I feel like after what we saw at Indy, that could be the case. Watkins Glen is a track where you can definitely play some strategy and maybe that will give us what we need to make it a top-five or get closer to a win. It’s always a beautiful weekend at Watkins Glen and I’m looking forward to getting there.”

Was the run at Indy a confidence boost for the No. 14 team?

“For sure. The road courses haven’t been very good to us ever since the NextGen car. We’d find something good – good speed or track position when we needed it – and then something would happen. This is the most competitive that I’ve been and the best feel I’ve had. It’s the closest we’ve been to what it used to feel like for me on the road courses when I ran really well, so I’m really hoping it carries over into this weekend.”

No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe
Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell
Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey
Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala
Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Jack Man: Dylan Moser
Hometown: Monroe, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola
Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams
Hometown: Naples, Florida

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips
Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Rob Fink
Hometown: Mocksville, North Carolina

United Rentals to Serve as Primay Sponsor for No. 62 Chevrolet and Driver Austin Hill at Daytona and Charlotte Roval

MT. PLEASANT, Michigan (Aug. 16, 2023) – Beard Motorsports announced today that United Rentals will appear as the primary sponsor on its No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro and driver Austin Hill for two NASCAR Cup Series races – the Aug. 26 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and the Oct. 8 Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 on the road course at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

“NASCAR is a natural partner for us with its focus on performance, teamwork and safety,” said Craig Schmidt, Vice President, National Accounts, United Rentals. “The same goes for United Rentals and the way we Work United ™ for our team, customers and communities. We have developed some wonderful relationships through our NASCAR partnerships, including the one we have with Austin Hill. We look forward to working with him in his Cup Series endeavors and with the entire Beard family and team.”

Beard Motorsports made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2017 Daytona 500 under the leadership of the late Mark Beard Sr. The team began as a way for the family patriarch to embrace his passion for motorsports and is now run by Linda Beard and her children, Amie and Mark, as a family-run organization in his honor.

“We are thrilled to have an organization like United Rentals join us for these two races,” Linda Beard said. “It’s surreal to me how much this team continues to grow and evolve because it’s still very much a passion project for me, my daughter Amie and son Mark Jr. This has been such an amazing season for our race team and family. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to take this No. 62 Chevrolet to some tracks that are new for us as a race team, and we couldn’t do it without the support of the partners that have signed on with us this year.

Back behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro, Hill will attempt to qualify for just his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona. The 29-year-old driver from Winston, Georgia, raced to a 24th-place finish at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April and earned a 37th-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 9 after being taken out in an incident not of his own doing. In February, Hill was poised to be part of the field for the season-opening Daytona 500 before getting collected in an accident not of his making during his Duel qualifying race.

“I’ve had a great relationship with United Rentals throughout my entire career, and they have been supportive of each step I’ve taken,” Hill said. “It’s an honor to have them on board as a primary partner in the Cup Series, and I look forward to sporting their colors on the No. 62 Chevrolet at Daytona and Charlotte.”

Hill is a six-time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the stepping-stone division to the elite Cup Series. Of his six career wins in the series, four have been on superspeedway-style tracks – two at Daytona and two on Atlanta’s reconfigured oval.

About United Rentals:

United Rentals, Inc., is the largest equipment rental company in the world. Founded in 1997, United Rentals has an integrated network of 1,487 rental locations in North America, 14 in Europe, 23 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 25,750 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and other customers. The company offers approximately 4,800 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $20.64 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index®. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Additional information about United Rentals can be found at UnitedRentals.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Go Bowling at The Glen Advance | Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Harrison Burton, driver of the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing, spoke with members of the media this afternoon ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at Watkins Glen International. Burton discussed his 2021 top-five finish in the Xfinity Series, his preparation for The Glen and more during this week’s media Zoom call.

HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang – MUSTANG HAS ACCOUNTED FOR THREE CONSECUTIVE WINS IN THE CUP SERIES MOST RECENTLY. IS THIS A FEAT THAT PROVIDES SOME ADDED CONFIDENCE HEADED INTO WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL? “It’s definitely good to see – I always root for Ford, obviously, because you get to know these guys. [Michael] McDowell winning is pretty cool. It’s like, someone told me that he’s the Kirk Cousins of NASCAR. I’d say that’s pretty accurate. So, everyone was pretty happy to see him win, I think, and just [Chris] Buescher doing what he did two weekends prior was pretty impressive. So, we know it’s out there for us to go get it. The Fords are capable. Now it’s up to our own groups to go figure out and try to figure out how to do it and what direction we need to go in to be able to do that. I already feel like we’ve made steps on our oval program. Last weekend was not necessarily what we wanted for the road course, but we did learn a lot. I feel like we have kind of a direction to go in after last weekend. So yeah, I’m excited to get to Watkins Glen to try and tap into and test our theories on the racetrack, which is always kind of the fun of racing, right? You go, have all these theories in the shop, have all these meetings, and you take a setup to go with and then hope for the best, right? So, it’s a bit of that ‘try it and find out,’ and I enjoy that, for sure.”

THERE WAS A LOT OF EARLY AGGRESSION AT INDIANAPOLIS, AND IT WILL ONLY INCREASE HEADING INTO THE GLEN. HAVE YOU TAKEN NOTE OF THE PLAYOFF BUBBLE DRIVERS WHO MAY BE MORE AGGRESSIVE? “Yes and no. I mean, the Cup Series in my opinion has been much more aggressive than honestly any other series that I’ve ever raced in. I always heard the opposite. I heard that, ‘Man, when you get to come, those guys don’t like to race hard and they have all these rules.’ And then I got here and, ‘Man, these guys race harder than anyone I’ve ever raced with.’ I kind of go about that same sort of mindset every weekend, where you try to avoid situations that are coming. I picked on my buddy Todd [Gilliland] – on the first restart, I saw him kind of drive in way too deep and lock the rear tires, and I saw… I think it was the No. 1… on his outside and I was like, ‘Yeah, ok. So, Todd’s getting ready to move him out of the way so I can go to the right.’ Pass them both, right? So that’s kind of how it went down. You see those in the moment, and you try to take advantage of it. But, I think if you get kind of too worked up, trying to overthink it… I think sometimes you can be too passive. You just need to stay aggressive, be the aggressor, and then if you kind of get handed these moments and get all this momentum, you have to take advantage of it. So, that was definitely one of those, and I feel like it worked out for me. We’ll try to stay on the good side of that as well.”

DO YOU VIEW DAYTONA AS A FEASIBLE “WIN AND YOU’RE IN” SCENARIO FOR YOU? “You know, I think it’s pretty feasible. I feel like, honestly, this year we’ve had two legit chances to win. That’s like, honestly and in general, my whole Cup career – I’ve only had two legit chances to win. It was this year’s [Daytona] 500, where we were leading with like 12 or 13 [laps] to go. I categorized that as a legit chance to win that race, and I kind of got ping-ponged out of the lead. I think that was a legit chance. We could have had the win. Then, Darlington: Those last two restarts. Even with all the chaos, we had a good chance to win. Those two I think were good races for us. Obviously, Darlington is in the playoffs, so that’s too late. But, I think Daytona is obviously one anyone can win. We’ve obviously seen crazy Daytona 500s, yes, and then the last race trying to get in. It’s always chaos. So, trying to navigate that and understand that there are going to be a lot of other guys in the same boat. I see it as a legit, feasible chance. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t even show up. I feel like it’s part of what makes race car drivers tick.”

COULD YOU EVEN COMPREHEND THAT “WALK-OFF,” PLAYOFF-CLINCHING SCENARIO IF YOU WERE ABLE TO WIN AT DAYTONA? “No, not really. I mean, I’ve won races in the past, and it’s always been pretty special. But, I’ve never won a race that was kind of like a ‘must win’ scenario – like needing to win to make it into the next round or to make the playoffs. I’ve never had that feeling. I think that’s something the playoffs kind of create and it’s pretty special that wasn’t quite there before because of how the points structure was. There weren’t really that many ‘must win’ scenarios, and now we go through these rounds, and you know, at the end of the regular season there are ‘must win’ races. That feels different. So, I think that’s cool and you do see a lot more of those. Man, that would be special. Any Cup win is special, but anything like that has to be an amazing feeling, that’s for sure.”

DO YOU DEDICATE MORE TIME TO THE SIMULATOR WHEN YOU HAVE CONSECUTIVE ROAD RACES ON THE SCHEDULE, AS COMPARED TO A NORMAL OVAL WEEKEND? “I think it depends team to team. For us, it’s the same every weekend. I get four hours a week in the Ford simulator, and I’m always in there kind of doing last week’s racetrack. I was actually in there this morning – 7 a.m. was our start time, so I was in there 7-11 a.m. – and I was able to kind of work on last week and kind of ran Indy some to make that more accurate. Also worked a lot on Watkins Glen trying to get the setup accurate and all that. That process gets kind of ‘rinse-and-repeated’ for me throughout the whole year. There’s some other drivers that don’t do it at all. There are some that do it only for the road courses. For me, I kind of do the same for every weekend, and for us it’s a good tool to use to compare, especially for our engineers to build a notebook and setups off of. It’s so hard to get track time now to be able to build that notebook and try things. The better your simulation program is, the more accurate you can touch things up at the racetrack, fire off the truck and be fast. With 20 minutes of practice and right into qualifying – and all the changes you can make are very limited as well in that practice. It’s really, really important to show up with your stuff sorted out the way it needs to be. For us, the only way we can do that is with the simulator, in our eyes, so we try to really focus on that every weekend.”

YOU HAD A TOP-FIVE AT THE GLEN DURING THE 2021 XFINITY SERIES SEASON. WHAT PARTS OF THE TRACK ARE IMPORTANT, AND WHICH SECTORS SUIT YOU THE MOST TO HELP IMPROVE FROM LAST YEAR’S CUP RESULT? “Yeah, last year wasn’t very good in the Cup car. For me, it’s just experience, right? I think this Cup car is very different and to understand how hard it is to drive this car, and what it can and cannot do. Especially, through the bus stop. I think the bus stop is probably the most important lap-time corner at Watkins Glen. It’s where you’re going to kind of make your most or lose your most lap-time, well at least for me in the past. When I get to the bus stop, I’m usually really good there in general. So, I think for me, it’s all about understanding that. Last year at the bus stop, we were bottoming out the race car so violently – everyone was. It was really a handful. So, I think prioritizing that and understanding that before we get there, and just having a notebook of an actual race in this car. It allows me to kind of compare better. It allows me to be able to look back and see what we did well, did poorly. We can see that on data comparisons: Where we were fast and where we were slow. We just focus really hard on trying to make our weaknesses better and turn them into strengths. That’s been the process through last weekend and then this weekend as well. I think we made some gains. We didn’t put the whole picture together last weekend, but with the knowledge we gained from last weekend, I think we have a good chance to have a good setup and run really well.”

HOW WILL YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE IMSA MICHELIN PILOT CHALLENGE HELP YOU THIS WEEKEND? “For me, it was just good to get a win and get confidence on a road course. That was my first road course win other than racing Renault go-karts with my buddies. For me to win, in a high-level series like that, and do it with my friend Zane [Smith], it was really cool. But it was good for me because I gained some confidence there. I learned something about road course racing. I think what those cars do well is that they isolate your problems. There are two things that you really don’t have control over in the Cup cars that you do in that. Those cars have traction control and ABS. So your braking lock-up is kind of taken care of for you, and then a lot of your rear-tire slip is taken care of for you. What that allows you to do is focus on everything else. And a lot of times, the only thing that – before I did that – I really found is how to get the brakes down deeper, not lock up the brakes and how can I get power on exit. So those things were kind of taken care of for me, and I could focus on other stuff. I feel like that helped me in that way.”

HOW DO YOU FILTER ANY OFF-SEASON SPECULATION? “A lot of the silly season stuff, for me, has been interesting for sure to hear about. I don’t know where rumors come from for a lot of those. I see it and get surprised sometimes. I haven’t seen one yet that’s been right, because I don’t even know what’s going on for next year yet. It’s fairly easy for me because I’m happy where I am, and I hope to continue to race where I am. It’s fairly easy for me to just go to work with the guys that I’ve worked with over the last year and a half or so. It’s not super distracting at this point.”

WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL NOTES

Saturday, August 19 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Sunday, August 20 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (USA)

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series travel East to the New York Finger Lakes region to complete consecutive weeks of road course racing with Watkins Glen International. The NASCAR Playoff outlook grows more intense in the final regular season events, as Mustang currently holds six Cup and two Xfinity spots above the cutline. Team Penske’s Joey Logano has notably seen a lot of success at The Glen, which includes a weekend sweep in the 2015 season.

REGULAR SEASON WINDING DOWN

There are only two races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season and four Ford drivers have officially clinched postseason berths after Michael McDowell’s win on Sunday. He joins fellow winners Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher while Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski remain above the cutline in points.

BUESCHER ROAD COURSE STREAK ENDS

Chris Buescher’s streak of top-10 finishes on road courses barely came to an end on Sunday at Indianapolis as his 11th-place run ended his streak at eight. Buescher’s average finish, including Sunday’s result, is a sparkling 7.3 in those events.

2023 Indy – P11

2023 Chicago – P10

2023 Sonoma – P4

2023 COTA – P8

2022 Roval – P6

2022 Watkins Glen – P9

2022 Indy – P10

2022 Road America – P6

2022 Sonoma – P2

Brad Keselowski: “The Glen is its own track. It’s got banking, it’s got high-speeds, and most road courses don’t have that, so there’s not a ton that carries over. A little bit with some braking stuff, but not much. Long green flag runs, aggressive battling on restarts, especially through the bus stop and then probably fuel mileage at the end. I’ve finished second there three years in a row (2011-2013), and I remember just thinking, ‘Darn, I should have won one of these races.’”

Ryan Blaney: “I think there are some things you can take (from one road course to another). The Glen is different – a ton of elevation, a lot of grip. Sonoma has more elevation than The Glen, but the surfaces are so much different, so you really can’t take much from there. You’re so much faster at The Glen. One of the biggest things that you try to get good at but you can’t really predict at any other road course is the bus stop at The Glen. That’s a huge place to make time and how your car reacts off the curbs – kind of jumping all four tires. It’s hard to really learn anywhere else because there is no other place you really do that. I think there are some things you can take: Like from Indy, heavy braking zones. There are places that you can really take road course to road course like how your car reacts under heavy braking zones. I think that’s one of the biggest things we look for when we go to these road courses – comparing and trying to learn for each one is how your car brakes. Your Turn 1 and 7 at Indy, that’s kind of the same like Turn 1 into Watkins Glen… I think it’s 10 off the back-stretch. I think those are the basics you take away.”

Ryan Preece: “Yeah, so from a road course perspective, I didn’t run Formula 1, IndyCar or V8 Supercars, but it’s always something I’ve enjoyed because of my short track background – heavy braking and the downshifting. All those little things you do as a race car driver. The road course races are ones I look forward to being aggressive and having good days.”

Chase Briscoe: “It’ll be nice to sort of be in that road course rhythm. I don’t think at any other time in the year we run back-to-back like this, so it’ll be nice to be in that mindset moving forward. Last year, we were actually really good there, but just got caught up in a wreck. We won the first stage and then just fell apart after the wreck. We had speed there last year, so hopefully we can have speed again this year. That’s a track where you can definitely play some strategy and do some things. I’m looking forward to it. I always feel like it’s always a beautiful weekend up there, so it should be a good.”

Austin Cindric: “Watkins really only has two left-handers, so it’s probably one of the more asymmetrical places you go to. Last year’s qualifying was really intense. You can really push the car quite hard and be very aggressive. It’s a very high-speed racetrack on very high loads. There are not a lot of braking opportunities, so you’re really getting the back-spin of the tires and the chassis less than the brakes.”

HISTORIC SWEEP

Joey Logano became the first driver to sweep a NASCAR Xfinity/Cup weekend at Watkins Glen International when he did it in 2015. Fuel mileage ended up deciding the Cup race as leader Kevin Harvick ran out on the last turn, which allowed Logano to pass him and make it to the finish line first. The win was Logano’s first on a road course and also marked the first series triumph for car owner Roger Penske at the historic track.

CLASSIC FINISH

One of the all-time classic finishes at Watkins Glen International came when Marcos Ambrose went slip sliding away on the final lap, but still resulted in him winning the NASCAR Cup Series race for the second straight time on August 12, 2012. In a race that had more twists and turns over the final three laps than many can remember in recent years, Ambrose was the one who survived a massive streak of oil that had been laid down on the track, allowing him to pass Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski for Ford’s third win of the season. Busch appeared to be headed toward victory, but as he came into turn one on the final lap, he slipped in some oil and got loose. Keselowski came up from behind and hit Busch, sending him spinning off the track. A battle between Ambrose and Keselowski ensued from that point with both drivers trying to avoid the slickness that had covered the course. Ambrose followed Keselowski through the grass at one point, but was able to get by in the treacherous carousel when Keselowski slid one final time.

THREE STRAIGHT

Mark Martin became the first driver to win three straight NASCAR Cup Series races at Watkins Glen International, and he capped that streak on Aug. 13, 1995 after passing Wally Dallenbach, Jr. on lap 84 of the 90-lap event. Martin, who led a race-high 61 circuits overall, held off the road racing specialist to win by one second. That victory completed a three-year run that saw him not only sit on the pole every time but lead 183-of-270 laps (68%).

FINAL VICTORY

When Chemung, NY, native Geoffrey Bodine took the checkered flag in the No. 7 QVC Ford Thunderbird on Aug. 11, 1996 he established a strategy that hadn’t been used to that point. He, along with crew chief Paul Andrews, employed an “only stop when you have to” strategy and that resulted in making only two stops in the 90-lap event, compared to three for everyone else. Bodine passed Ken Schrader with eight laps to go and then held off Terry Labonte over the final laps to win. That marked the 18th and final victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and it came in front of his hometown fans.

66-FOR-66

The first time Ford won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International was when Marvin Panch drove the Wood Brothers to victory on July 18, 1965. There were only 19 cars in the field that day and it proved to be a Ford show as all 66 laps were led by three drivers sporting the Blue Oval. Ned Jarrett, who finished second, led the first lap before Junior Johnson passed him on lap 2. Johnson led the pack for 12 circuits until his engine blew, which enabled Panch to inherit a lead he never gave up, going the final 53 laps and making it first to the checkered flag. The win was Panch’s fourth of the season and next-to-last in his career, which ended with 17 victories.

WATKINS GLEN RECORD

Saturday’s race will be Riley Herbst’s third career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Watkins Glen International. In his previous two, he’s started in the top 10 both times with finishes of 13th and 7th. Likewise, Cole Custer has had great consistency, posting an average finish of 9.0 in his four series starts with a best finish of 6th in 2018.

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS

AT WATKINS GLEN

1965 – Marvin Panch

1993 – Mark Martin

1994 – Mark Martin

1995 – Mark Martin

1995 – Mark Martin

1996 – Geoffrey Bodine

2011 – Marcos Ambrose

2012 – Marcos Ambrose

2015 – Joey Logano

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS

AT WATKINS GLEN

1993 – Bill Elliott

2008 – Marcos Ambrose

2012 – Carl Edwards

2013 – Brad Keselowski

2014 – Marcos Ambrose

2015 – Joey Logano

2016 – Joey Logano

2018 – Joey Logano

2019 – Austin Cindric