Watkins Glen is ready for NASCAR, fans

Aug 05, 2015 at 12:08 am by Observer-Review


Watkins Glen is ready for NASCAR, fans ADVERTISEMENT

Watkins Glen is ready for NASCAR, fans

WATKINS GLEN--Take one look around Watkins Glen or the surrounding communities and it will not take long to find a "welcome race fans" sign, memorabilia from races past or things to do or see during the upcoming weekend. The NASCAR race weekend will begin Thursday, Aug. 6 as the car haulers arrive at Watkins Glen International and will conclude Sunday, Aug. 9 with the running of the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen Sprint Cup race.
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, comes to Watkins Glen after just winning last Sunday's Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway.
"You know, I've never been able to explain it after all these years, but no matter what race I've ever won or how I've won it or what position we've been in, there's no feeling in the world like when you come off the corner and know you're going to win a Sprint Cup race," said Kenseth after the race. "There's no other feeling like that. I wish I could bottle it up or I wish I could explain it more, but it's just one of them things you can't really explain."
He was followed by Brad Keselowski and four-time WGI winner Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.
When asked in a post race press conference about Watkins Glen, Gordon said, "Well, the one thing that's encouraging to me is last year I thought we were really strong there, and we had a--I don't know if it was an alternator or battery issue, but yeah, some kind of battery connection issue and we lost power, so we never saw it play out. That happened--I think we were running second to Ambrose at the time. I'm encouraged by that. I'm looking forward to going back there. I know our aero package is a little bit different, but you know, I don't think it's that much different from what we had last year, so hopefully we can have another strong finish and performance there. That would be awesome. We need them--right now every race is so critical for us."
2014 Cheez-It champion AJ Allmendinger recorded a seventh place finish, while five-time Glen champion Tony Stewart was ninth. Kyle Busch ran out of fuel on the final lap at Pocono leading to a 21st place finish.
The racers are focusing on the standings as there are five races left until the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The Chase places the top 16 drivers from the season against each other as the season winds down to name an overall championship winner.
WGI will see three races over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday, Aug. 7, the K&N pro series Bully Hill Vineyards 125 will run at 6:15 p.m.Saturday, Aug. 8 will feature the 3 p.m. XFINITY Series Zippo 200 and Sunday will be the Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at 2 p.m. The race will be shown on NBC Sports Network and online at stream.nbcsports.com/nascar-sprint/?pid=18260.
NASCAR has set up a Watkins Glen Race Center webpage at www.nascar.com/en_us/race-center/sprint-cup-series/cheezit-355.html that includes additional information about the track and race standings. Watkins Glen International also has a full schedule available atwww.theglen.com.
General admission tickets are $100, while Sunday only is $85. Prices increase with grandstand seating.

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