NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Road racing at The Glen

Track Classification: Road Course

Similar Track: Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)

Distance: 2.428 Miles

Drivers with Most Top 10s (Last 5 Years):

By Race

All with 4 - Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson
All with 3 - Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch  

By Track

All with 3 - Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch
All with 2 -  Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, AJ Allmendinger and Martin Truex Jr.

Recent Pole Winners:

2015 AJ Allmendinger
2014 Jeff Gordon

Last Year's Race Winner: Joey Logano

The Likely Suspects: I'm not making any promises, but I am pretty sure we won't have any fog delays at this weekend's race. After Monday's surprise winner, most of us will need to rack up some points this week, so think Top 5. Ninety-four percent of the Sprint Cup races at Watkins Glen International have been won from the first five starting position. I am looking at these likely suspects this week: Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenneth, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle.

My 2 Cents: At this point in the season I need to resist the temptation of basing my picks on drivers I want to win. I need to think momentum and open wheel experience this week. This week's no-brainer selection is a two-way tie between Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. My next picks are: AJ Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson. I will round out my team with Jeff Gordon and Ryan Blaney.

My Final Four: Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, AJ Allmendinger and Jeff Gordon.

Points to Ponder:

• The race winner at Watkins Glen International has started in the Top 5 94% of the time.
• In seven career starts at The Glen, AJ Allmendinger earned one win, two top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 10.1.
• Tony Stewart owns the track wins record at Watkins Glen International with five victories. In addition to his five wins, Stewart boasts seven top-two, and 10 top-10 finishes at the Central New York road course. 
• Joey Logano has finished seventh or better in four of his last five starts at Watkins Glen: fifth in 2011, 32nd in 2012, seventh in 2013, sixth in 2014 and first in 2015.
• A win on Sunday would tie Jeff Gordon with Tony Stewart for the Watkins Glen track record for victories with five. In 23 starts at The Glen, he claims four wins, six top fives and nine top 10s. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is NASCAR’s all-time leader in road-course wins with nine.
• At The Glen the victories by owner records are: Rick Hendrick 6, Joe Gibbs 6, Jack Roush 3, Raymond Beadle 2, Richard Childress 2, Richard Petty Motorsports 2, all others 12.

Enjoy the race! Post your comments here or follow me on Twitter at @purplecatpr.