Road-course master van Gisbergen captures Watkins Glen victory: Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his fourth NASCAR Cup Series road course victory of the season Sunday afternoon and second win of more than 10-seconds on the field … and he made it look effortless. The 36-year-old New Zealander led a race-best 38 of 90 laps – including the final 17 – at the historic Watkins Glen International in picturesque upstate New York, his No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet officially crossing the finish line by 11.116-seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell. [Read More]
#88-Shane Van Gisbergen won the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. The win is his fourth win of the year, first at Watkins Glen and fifth career win.
#20-Christopher Bell finished 2nd followed by #17-Chris Buescher, #24-William Byron, #19-Chase Briscoe, pole winner #12-Ryan Blaney, #99-Daniel Suarez, #23-Bubba Wallace, #45-Tyler Reddick, and #1-Ross Chastain.
Blaney lead most of the first stage, but the remainder of the race belonged to Van Gisbergen. He led a total of 38 laps and pulled away at the end to win by more than 11 seconds.
Stage 1 was won by #17-Chris Buescher. Stage 2 was won by #12-Ryan Blaney.
The fastest lap bonus was earned by #5-Kyle Larson
There were 8 lead changes among 6 drivers and 3 cautions for 8 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 101.263mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Watkins Glen:
Shane Van Gisbergen # won the Go Bowling at The Glen, his fifth victory in 38 Cup Series races.
This is his fourth victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Watkins Glen International.
Christopher Bell (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Watkins Glen International. It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2025.
Chris Buescher (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Watkins Glen International.
Shane Van Gisbergen (first) was the highest finishing rookie.
William Byron leads the point standings by 42 points over Chase Elliott.
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Watkins Glen:
Race 24 of 26 in the regular season
1) #11-Denny Hamlin, 4 wins, 731 [24 playoff points]
2) #88-Shane Van Gisbergen, 4 wins, 441 [22 playoff points]
3) #20-Christopher Bell, 3 wins, 727 [17 playoff points]
4) #5-Kyle Larson, 3 wins, 727 [23 playoff points]
5) #24-William Byron, 2 win, 812 [regular season points leader] [17 playoff points]
6) #9-Chase Elliott, 1 win, 770 [6 playoff points]
7) #12-Ryan Blaney, 1 win, 710 [10 playoff points]
8) #19-Chase Briscoe, 1 win, 674 [6 playoff point]
9) #23-Bubba Wallace, 1 win, 610 [7 playoff points]
10) #22-Joey Logano, 1 win, 583 [7 playoff points]
11) #1-Ross Chastain, 1 win, 571 [6 playoff points]
12) #2-Austin Cindric, 1 win, 502 [8 playoff points]
13) #21-Josh Berry, 1 win, 445 [6 playoff points]
14) #45-Tyler Reddick, 701 [1 playoff point], +117 ahead of 17th
15) #48-Alex Bowman, 644,+60 ahead of 17th
16) #16-Chris Buescher, 618 [-3 playoff points], +34 ahead of 17th
Outside the top 16:
17) #60-Ryan Preece, 584, [2 playoff points], -34 behind 16th
18) #8-Kyle Busch, 516, -102 behind 16th
19) #54-Ty Gibbs, 493, -125 behind 16th
20) #16-A.J. Allmendinger, 489, – 129 behind 16th
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag for SVG. His fourth win of the year.
White flag for SVG. He has a lead of more than 10 seconds.
Lap 88 – Three to go. SVG in complete control over Buescher. The lead is now 9 seconds.
Lap 86 – Five to go. SVG’s lead continues to build. Now more than 7 seconds over Buescher. Bell is now third, 8.5 seconds back.
Lap 85 – Keselowski has a tire go down and has to come to pit road. No caution.
Lap 83 – Gibbs on pit road for a stop. The team hopes for a late caution and they will stay out on fresh tires. SVG’s lead now over 5 seconds.
Lap 81 – With ten laps to go SVG’s lead is now 4 seconds over Buescher. Byron, in third, is 5.2 seconds back.
Lap 76 – Fifteen laps remaining, SVG out front by 2.5 seconds over now second place Buescher. Byron back to third.
Lap 75 – Keselowski finally pits and hands the lead to SVG. He’s 1.67 second ahead of Byron. Then Buescher, Blaney, and Bell.
Lap 71 – SVG is 8.2 seconds behind Keselowski, but Keselowski still needs to pit. Byron, in third, is .8 second behind SVG. Twenty laps to go.
Lap 70 – Briscoe pits from the lead. McDowell joins him. Now Keselowski out front and SVG up to second.
Lap 69 – Now Briscoe, Keselowski, McDowell, SVG and Bryon the top 5.
Lap 66 – 25 laps remaining. Briscoe leads Keselowski, Jones, McDowell and Nemechek. SVG is 8th.
Lap 63 – SVG pits from the lead. Chastain also in. Briscoe now the leader.
Lap 62 – Pit stops still cycling through. Currently SVG, Chastain, Briscoe, Cindric, and Keselowski up front.
Lap 59 – Bell, Bowman, and Haley pit.
Lap 57 – Blaney pits.
Lap 56 – Byron pits, along with Busch, Wallace, Gilliland and a few others.
Lap 55 – SVG takes the lead from Blaney. Byron now third, then Bell and Bowman. A few pit stops begin. RFK teammates Buescher and Preece are in.
Lap 52 – Hocevar spins but continues. No caution.
Lap 50 – Blaney leads Byron by 1.6 second. Then Bowman, Bell and SVG. Everyone needs to pit at least one more time before the end of the race. The pit window will open in a few laps.
Lap 46 – Busch and Hamlin have contact but continue on. No caution.
Lap 45 – Back to green flag. Blaney, Byron, Bell, Bowman, Gibbs, Preece, Elliott, Suarez, Buescher and Hamlin the top 10. SVG is 12th.
Lap 43 – Pit road is open. Allmendinger, Keselowski, Herbst, Stenhouse and a few others pit. Blaney stays out and continues to lead.
Lap 41 – CAUTION for the end of stage 2. Blaney wins it over Byron, Bell, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Herbst, Bowman, Stenhouse, Gibbs, and Press. Nemechek spun and got into the wall just before the end of the stage.
Lap 39 – Blaney stays out as pit road closes.
Lap 38 – SVG pits from the lead. Blaney back out front followed by Byron and Bell.
Lap 37 – More pit stop through the field.
Lap 36 – Once again a few pit stops beginning as the end of the stage nears.
Lap 32 – Green flag. SVG, Blaney, Chastain, Briscoe, Busch the top 5.
Lap 31 – Pit road is open. Gibbs, Preece and a handful of other drivers come in.
Lap 29 – Elliott pits. Berry spins but gets the car restarted and there is no caution initially. Then a CAUTION for debris in turn 5 where Berry spun.
Lap 26 – SVG takes the lead over Blaney, Preece, Briscoe and Chastain. Larson comes back on track after repairs.
Lap 25 – Back to green for the start of the second stage. It will end after lap 40. Preece takes the lead on the restart. SVG moves to second.
Lap 24 – On the restart it will be: Buescher, Preece, Elliott, Blaney, SVG, Briscoe, Chastain, McDowell, Bell and Byron.
Lap 22 – Pit road is open. Bowman, Nemechek, Stenhouse and a few others pit. The rest of the driver that had not pitted stay out. Buescher continues to lead.
Lap 21 – CAUTION for the end of stage 1. Buescher wins it over Bowman, Preece, Elliott, Nemechek, Stenhouse, Blaney, SVG, Briscoe, Ware.
Lap 20 – Final lap in stage 1. Buescher leads Bowman.
Lap 19 – Blaney and SVG come down before pit road closes. Buescher takes the lead.
Lap 18 – Many more pit stops this time by. Blaney and SVG stay out.
Lap 17 – More drivers in. This time: Briscoe, Chastain, Bell, Jones, Keselowski and several more.
Lap 16 – A few drivers hitting pit road and will then stay out during the stage break. Among them are Gibbs and Suarez.
Lap 11 – Halfway through the first stage, Blaney leads SVG by 1.2 second, then Briscoe, Chastain, McDowell, Busch, Hocevar, Bowman, Bell and Buescher.
Lap 8 – Larson loses a lap while in the pits. The team can’t identify the problem so he will go to the garage for repairs.
Lap 6 – With 5 laps complete it’s Blaney, SVG, Briscoe, Chastain, and McDowell out front. 39th place Bilicki is already 20.8 seconds back. Larson spun in turn 1 but continued. He says no brakes. There is no caution.
Lap 2 – Blaney leads the first lap.
• 2:08pm/et – Green flag at Watkins Glen. Blaney and SVG up front. First stage is 20 laps.
• The predetermined race end time because of darkness is 8:05pm/et. That is not expected to be an issue today.
• 1:54pm/et – Engines are fired.
• 1:45pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• 1:30pm/et – USA Network now has pre-race coverage.
• As of 12:30pm/et, no cars to the rear today.
• Trackhouse Racing has withdrawn Connor Zilisch’s #87 after his injury following the Xfinity race yesterday.
• No weather issues today. The National Weather Service says Sunny, with a high near 88. South wind around 6 mph.
Race details:
Broadcast: USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 90 laps / 220.5 miles
Stages: 20 / 40 / 90
Average time of race: 2:18:26
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel Window: 36 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Invocation: 1:45:20 p.m.
Canadian Anthem: 1:46:00 p.m.
National Anthem: 1:47:25 p.m.
Command: 1:54:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 2:05:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: none reported
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International have been made.
Pole winner #12-Ryan Blaney chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #88-Shane Van Gisbergen took the 38 stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Watkins Glen Pit Stall page.
#12-Ryan Blaney won the Busch pole for the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International with a speed of 122.568mph for his second pole of the year, first at Watkins Glen and 12th of his career.
#88-Shane Van Gisbergen will start second followed by , #19-Chase Briscoe, #1-Ross Chastain, #8-Kyle Busch, #71-Michael McDowell, #48-Alex Bowman, #77-Carson Hocevar, #20-Christopher Bell, and #24-William Byron.
See the complete qualifying results and the Go Bowling at the Glen Starting Lineup.
Watkins Glen – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Ryan Blaney won the Pole Award for the Go Bowling at The Glen with a lap of 71.96 seconds, 122.568 mph.
This is his 12th pole in 366 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his second pole and 10th top-10 start in 2025.
This is his first pole in nine races at Watkins Glen International.
Shane Van Gisbergen # (second) posted his sixth top-10 start of 2025 and his second in two races at Watkins Glen International.
Chase Briscoe (third) posted his first top-10 start at Watkins Glen International. It is his 14th in 24 races this season.
Shane Van Gisbergen (second) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR)
Qualifying Order
Practice for the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International is over. The results:
#7-Justin Haley 121.363
#71-Michael McDowell 121.362
#17-Chris Buescher 121.357
#54-Ty Gibbs 121.162
#5-Kyle Larson 121.143
Slowest: #66-Josh Bilicki, 116.462mph
Most laps run: #88-Van Gisbergen, #87-Zilisch, #19-Briscoe, #12-Blaney, 19 laps.
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 20 drivers):#24-William Byron, 120.571mph.
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Go Bowling at the Glen Practice speeds page.
Pre-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage is complete. No multiple failures.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International is posted, 40 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Open teams entered: #4-Noah Gragson, #23-Bubba Wallace, #34-Todd Gilliland, #35-Riley Herbst, #38-Zane Smith, #44-J.J. Yeley, #45-Tyler Reddick, #66-Josh Bilicki, #78-Katherine Legge, #87-Connor Zilisch.
See the full entry list on the Go Bowling at the Glen Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Watkins Glen: This weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Watkins Glen International marks the fifth road course race of the season. Teams will use the same Goodyear Racing Eagle tires that were run earlier this year at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (Mexico City), Chicago Street Race and Sonoma Raceway.
Race rules and information:
