Watkins Glen Worldwide hosts the twelfth spherical of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and can characteristic all three nationwide divisions and the ARCA Menards Collection from Friday by Sunday. That is additionally the earliest the observe has ever appeared on the NASCAR schedule.
Will Shane van Gisbergen go back-to-back, or will one other driver seize the checkered flag at The Glen? Here is all some main storylines you want to keep watch over all through the NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen:
New observe limits and their influence on the race
Watkins Glen new tire packs
Photograph by: NASCAR Media
NASCAR has added new tire packs to the exit of Flip 1 and to the exit of the Carousel, which is able to utterly change the way in which drivers deal with these parts of the observe. The objective is to maintain drivers on the precise racing floor, however there’s some concern surrounding how these tire packs might complicate incidents when automobiles lose management, as Shane van Gisbergen identified earlier within the week.
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A less-than-ideal climate forecast
The earliest Watkins Glen NASCAR race in historical past will current some climate challenges. A lot cooler temps than the summer season months, and there’s a likelihood of rain day-after-day this weekend. Whereas NASCAR has rain tires, that can definitely change the dynamic of all of the races. It may additionally lead to qualifying being canceled, with the beginning lineup decided by the metric. The bottom is extraordinarily comfortable after the winter snow soften and spring showers, so any automobiles that go off-track may undergo important harm even with out hitting something. Moreover, NASCAR has already made the choice to maneuver Watkins Glen again to a later month for 2027.
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The Trackhouse triple and a possible weekend sweep
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Photograph by: Chris Graythen – Getty Photographs
All three Trackhouse Racing drivers are participating in every of the nationwide division races this weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen (#97 Trackhouse Cup; #9 JRM O’Reilly; #4 Niece Truck), Connor Zilisch (#88 Trackhouse Cup; #1 JRM O’Reilly; #71 Spire Truck), and Ross Chastain (#1 Trackhouse Cup; #32 Jordan Anderson Racing O’Reilly; #45 Niece Truck) can have extra laps than anybody else this weekend. SVG and Zilisch are each confirmed winners at The Glen, whereas Chastain’s most up-to-date Cup pole got here on the NY highway course. Ought to any of them handle to brush the weekend, they’ll be part of elite firm as Kyle Busch is the one driver to ever efficiently pull off the triple weekend sweep (twice at Bristol).
An extended Cup race than earlier years
Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Photograph by: Chris Graythen – Getty Photographs
NASCAR has added ten extra laps to the Watkins Glen Cup race for 2026. Consequently, there will likely be an extended second stage, and will change the technique a bit. The gasoline window is about 33 to 36 laps with levels of 20-30-50, in order that will likely be one thing to keep watch over come Sunday.
Avoiding intentional wrecking penalties
Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Ryan Preece and Kyle Busch reminded drivers of one thing quite necessary this previous week in NASCAR. Intentional wrecking might not all the time be penalized, however in the event you voice your intentions earlier than taking motion, that’s nearly all the time a assured penalty. That mistake value Preece 25 useful factors and $50,000. The Glen is a spot the place tempers usually boil over, however a lapse in judgment may utterly alter a driver’s season if they do not preserve these feelings in test.
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Katherine Legge returns to NASCAR
Earlier than participating within the Indianapolis 500 for the fifth time in her profession, the multi-time IMSA race winner is again behind the wheel of a NASCAR inventory automobile. Legge will drive the No. 78 Dwell Quick Motorsports Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, and she or he earned the group its finest non-drafting observe end ever final yr when she positioned seventeenth within the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. It will likely be fascinating to see if she will enhance on that in her first begin of the 2026 season, which comes on the web site of a IMSA GTD Professional class win for Legge (in 2017).
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The Chase bubble tightens
Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing
Photograph by: Sean Gardner / Getty Photographs
There are some very massive names proper across the cut-line within the factors battle to make the 2026 Chase. Sitting on the bubble in sixteenth is Chase Briscoe, simply seven factors forward of Joey Logano. Behind Logano is Ross Chastain, 26 factors adrift. Logano is a 3x champion whereas each Chastain and Briscoe superior into the Championship 4 beneath the earlier format. However the true identify to observe this weekend is one level beneath Chastain — his teammate within the No. 97 Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen is 27 factors behind Briscoe, and Watkins Glen may very well be large for him in carving a path again in direction of the highest 16.
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