NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Watkins Glen International

  

Chase Elliott is having an awesome season so far. The folks at the Dawsonville Pool Room can surely attest to that. The siren is probably still going off! Last week's win at Texas Motor Speedway was Chase's 23rd in the Cup Series and his second at Texas Motor Speedway, making it the eighth track where he has scored multiple victories. Chase is a decent road racer, with five of those trophies coming from road courses, but the last was in 2021. So I think the usual suspects will dominate this week at Watkins Glen International.

 

This Week's Pick Strategy: It's time to show some love to the Cup Series Watkins Glen elites regardless of how long they have been racing in the Cup Series. It will be super important not to make mistakes this week in things like track limits, so my picks will weigh heavily on consistency at road courses. 

We will have wet weather tires available this week, though Sunday's forecast includes only a 20% chance of rain. 

Active Drivers with Most Top 10s on Road Courses in Gen 7 Car (2022-2025)

By Race & Track (22 Races)

Both with 16 - Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher

Both with 14 - Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott  

Both with 12 - Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger  
Both with 10 - Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Busch
Ty Gibbs - 9
All with 8 - Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, and Ryan Blaney

Includes races at Charlotte Roval, Chicago Street Race, COTA, Indy Road Course, Mexico City,  Sonoma, and Watkins Glen
SOURCE: frcs.pro

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 5s at Watkins Glen (2019-2025*) 6 Races 

By Race & Track 
Both with 3 - Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin 
All with 2 - Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Kyle Larson, and AJ Allmendinger 
SOURCE: frcs.pro

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 3s at Watkins Glen (2019-2025*)

By Race & Track (6 Races)
All with 2: Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin
SOURCE: frcs.pro
*No race in 2020 

Last Year's Pole Winner: Ryan Blaney

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Shane van Gisbergen

The Likely Suspects: My Watkins Glen elite drivers include Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Christopher Bell, A.J. Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, and Tyler Reddick.

My 2 Cents: This week's no-brainer pick is Shane van Gisbergen. My next picks are Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, and Kyle Busch. I'll round out my team with Connor Zilisch and Carson Hocevar.

My Final Four: Shane van Gisbergen, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, and Connor Zilisch.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Daniel Suarez. In Daniel's last eight races here, he has earned four Top 10s and three Top 5s for an average finish of 12.750, the seventh-best among active NASCAR Cup drivers.

 

Points to Ponder:

• Of the 42 NASCAR Cup Series races at Watkins Glen, 10 have been won from the pole or first starting position (25%); the most recent driver to accomplish the feat was Chase Elliott in 2019.
• Denny Hamlin (2023, 2018), Kyle Busch (2011, 2017) and Chase Elliott (2019, 2022) lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in poles at Watkins Glen International with two each.
• Chris Buescher became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to win a race at Watkins Glen starting outside the top 20 (24th starting position).
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Watkins Glen International with 11 victories among six drivers.
• Brad Keselowski leads all active Cup drivers in runner-up finishes at Watkins Glen with three, followed by Denny Hamlin with two.
• Kyle Busch (second all-time) leads all active drivers in Top 10 finishes with 13, as well as in Top 5s with seven, and in laps led at Watkins Glen with 249 in 1,694 laps completed (20 starts from 2005 to 2025).
• Shane Van Gisbergen leads the NASCAR Cup Series drivers in average finishing position at Watkins Glen with an 1.5 in two starts.

If you are playing Driver Group Game, remember to make your initial picks by 1 p.m. ET today, May 9th, and make your final picks by 3 p.m. ET on race day, Sunday, May 10th.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 19 years. She launched NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat or executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.