NASCAR veterans like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon will likely dominate Sunday’s race at the Glen. (Photos by Geoff Burke, Chris McGrath and Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
The field for Sunday’s Centurion Boats at the Glen race will be full of road-race specialists, drivers who come in for one or two NASCAR races per year and this weekend will try and beat the Sprint Cup regulars around the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course.
If history holds true, though, they will come up short.
That’s because a road-course ringer has never won a Cup race at Watkins Glen. But Cup regulars who excel at road courses — most notably Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon — likely will dominate Sunday’s race.
Jeff Gordon and Stewart each have four victories at the Glen, including last year, when Gordon misjudged a corner and spun out while leading, handing the victory to Stewart. In the last four years, Stewart has three Glen victories and a second-place finish behind his close buddy Kevin Harvick in 2006. His Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota should be the car to beat this year, along with the two Gordons.
Road racing isn’t every NASCAR driver’s cup of tea, but for Stewart a visit to the Glen is something he very much looks forward to. “I think it's one of those places that there's I think a handful of guys, or 10 guys, 12 guys that really like going to the Glen and like going to Sonoma (Calif.) and look forward to those races,” said Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champ. “Then there's probably half the field that can take it or leave it. Then there's a quarter of the field that would be fine if we didn't go.”
Stewart, who is coming off a second-place run at Pocono, would like to build some momentum this weekend at Watkins Glen. “As soon as you get out of the Glen, that's when you want to be on that hot streak,” he said. “It never hurts winning races, and if you win at the Glen, that's just that much more momentum the next week.”
Jeff Gordon said he, too, is looking forward to going back to the Glen, a track he has enjoyed so much success on. “We went to Road Atlanta last week and I felt like we had a promising test,” Gordon said. “I feel like we learned some things that will gain us a little speed here. I love racing at Watkins Glen. It's fast, and it’s a track that suits our cars very, very well.”
Gordon said there are more risks on a road course than on an oval. “You have to outbreak guys into the corners, which is really the only way you can pass,” said the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champ. “And when you do that, you’re taking risks. You can miss a shift, you can wheel-hop, you can get into somebody, lock a wheel up. Whatever. So a lot times when we see altercations on a road course, it’s somebody making a bold move and it doesn’t work.”
As for owner/driver Robby Gordon, he needs a victory to help attract sponsors for 2009 and get his team some attention. “Sponsors and everybody want to be involved with a team that can win races,” said Robby Gordon. “I look at this weekend as an opportunity of putting our team in victory lane. There's only been three teams this year that have been in victory lane. So if we could pull it off, that would be big.”
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
