NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen

Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Cup Series have taken place at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the 2.454-mile (3.949 km) road course annually since 1986. Since 2018, the 100-lap, 245.54-mile (395.16 km) race has been known as Go Bowling at The Glen for sponsorship reasons.^[2]

Go Bowling at The Glen

NASCAR Cup Series
Venue	Watkins Glen International
Location	Watkins Glen, New York, United States
Corporate sponsor	Go Bowling[1]
First race	1957
Distance	245.54 miles (395.158 km)
Laps	100 Stage 1: 20 Stage 2: 30 Final stage: 50
Previous names	The Glen 101.2 (1957) The Glen 151.8 (1964–1965) The Budweiser At The Glen (1986–1989) Budweiser At The Glen (1990–1993) The Bud At The Glen (1994–1998) Frontier @ the Glen (1999) Global Crossing @ The Glen (2000–2001) Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen (2002–2005) AMD at the Glen (2006) Centurion Boats at the Glen (2007–2008) Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen (2009–2011) Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen (2012) Cheez-It 355 at the Glen (2013–2016) I Love New York 355 at The Glen (2017)
Most wins (driver)	Tony Stewart (5)
Most wins (team)	Hendrick Motorsports (11)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chevrolet (23)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt
Length	2.454 mi (3.949 km)
Turns	7

Shane van Gisbergen is the defending race winner.

History

Prior to 1986, three races were held in 1957 (in one of the track's first professional races), as well in 1964 and 1965. These races were held in the track's original configuration, which was 2.35 miles long.

The current NASCAR Cup race at the track began in 1986, utilizing a shortened 2.45 mile course. Following the 1991 death of J. D. McDuffie in a crash in the Outer Loop, at the end of the backstretch, and a subsequent, serious crash by IMSA driver, Tommy Kendall, the Inner Loop "bus stop" chicane was added just before the Outer Loop. NASCAR has since utilized this 2.45-mile (3.94 km) "short course," and has never utilized the "Boot" as IndyCar and Formula One have. Some drivers, however, have proposed the use of the full course.

During a 2011 Mobil Oil "Car Swap" at Watkins Glen using the course, Tony Stewart pushed for using the Grand Prix course after driving demonstration laps in both his Chevrolet Impala and the majority of his laps in a McLaren MP4-23 as part of the event with Lewis Hamilton.^[3]

ESPN broadcast the race from 1986 to 2000, then again in 2007 to 2014. Starting in 2015 (current contract), NBC had the rights to broadcast the race but the 2015 edition was aired on NBCSN. In 2016, the race was put on USA Network because of the 2016 Summer Olympics airing on NBC and NBCSN. Beginning in 2017, with the exception of 2025, NBC decided to broadcast this race in the style of radio where various analysts would be placed on the course to report what they see in their section of the track to the viewer.

In 2020, the race was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The State of New York was requiring travelers from several states to isolate for 14 days (including North Carolina, where most of NASCAR's teams are located, and Florida, where NASCAR's corporate offices are), and not giving the series a quarantine waiver to enter the state.^[4] NASCAR instead held a race on the Daytona International Speedway road course,^[5] the Go Bowling 235.

2024's running of this race was moved to September was the second race of the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.^[6] Watkins Glen's stint in the playoffs was short lived however, as in the 2025 season Watkins Glen returned to its typical August date.^[7] In 2026 the race was moved to a mid-May date.^[8] On December 3, 2025, NASCAR released a schedule for the race weekend that included an extension of the race to 100 laps.^[9]

Past winners

Year	Date	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race distance		Race time	Average speed (mph)	Report	Ref
						Laps	Miles (km)
2.3 miles (3.7 km) Layout
1957	August 4	87	Buck Baker	Buck Baker	Chevrolet	44	101.2 (162.865)	1:13:06	83.064	Report	[10]
1958 – 1963	Not held
1964	July 19	1	Billy Wade	Bud Moore Engineering	Mercury	66	151.8 (244.298)	1:32:57	97.988	Report	[11]
1965	July 18	21	Marvin Panch	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	66	151.8 (244.298)	1:32:46	98.182	Report	[12]
1966 – 1985	Not held
2.428 miles (3.907 km) Layout (Pre inner loop chicane)
1986	August 10	25	Tim Richmond	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:12:56	90.463	Report	[13]
1987	August 10*	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:24:36	90.682	Report	[14]
1988	August 14	26	Ricky Rudd	King Racing	Buick	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:56:58	74.096	Report	[15]
1989	August 13	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:26:55	87.242	Report	[16]
1990	August 12	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:21:49	92.452	Report	[17]
1991	August 11	4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	218.52 (351.673)	2:12:28	98.977	Report	[18]
2.454 miles (3.949 km) Layout with Inner Loop chicane
1992	August 9	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	51*	125.154 (201.415)	1:27:21	88.980	Report	[19]
1993	August 8	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:36:04	84.771	Report	[20]
1994	August 14	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:21:07	93.752	Report	[21]
1995	August 13	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:11:54	103.030	Report	[22]
1996	August 11	7	Geoffrey Bodine	Geoff Bodine Racing	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:17	92.334	Report	[23]
1997	August 10	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:55	91.294	Report	[24]
1998	August 9	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:20:03	94.466	Report	[25]
1999	August 15	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:30:49	87.722	Report	[26]
2000	August 13	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:51	91.336	Report	[27]
2001	August 12	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:28:31	89.081	Report	[28]
2002	August 11	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:40:56	82.208	Report	[29]
2003	August 10	31	Robby Gordon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:17	90.441	Report	[30]
2004	August 15	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:25	92.249	Report	[31]
2005	August 14	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:35:48	86.804	Report	[32]
2006	August 13	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:52:27	76.718	Report	[33]
2007	August 12	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:50:38	77.535	Report	[34]
2008	August 10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:16:11	97.148	Report	[35]
2009	August 10*	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart–Haas Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:31	90.297	Report	[36]
2010	August 8	42	Juan Pablo Montoya*	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:23:52	91.960	Report	[37]
2011	August 15*	9	Marcos Ambrose*	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:16:02	99.417	Report	[38]
2012	August 12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:14:48	98.145	Report	[39]
2013	August 11	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:32:04	87.001	Report	[40]
2014	August 10	47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:26:48	90.123	Report	[41]
2015	August 9	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:24:43	91.42	Report	[42]
2016	August 7	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:27:48	89.513	Report	[43]
2017	August 6	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:07:03	104.132	Report	[44]
2018	August 5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:13:44	98.928	Report	[45]
2019	August 4	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:14:17	98.523	Report	[46]
2020*	August 16	Moved to Daytona road course due to COVID-19 pandemic									[4]
2021	August 8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:10:57	101.031	Report	[47]
2022	August 21	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:17:52	95.962	Report	[48]
2023	August 20	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	1:58:44	111.426	Report	[49]
2024	September 15	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	92*	225.4 (362.746)	2:38:41	80.226	Report	[50]
2025	August 10	88	Shane van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	90	220.5 (354.86)	2:10:39	101.263	Report	[51]
2026	May 10									Report

• 1987, 2009, & 2011: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 1992: Race shortened due to rain.
• 2005, 2011, & 2024: Race extended due to NASCAR Overtime.
• 2020: Race canceled and moved to the Daytona road course due to quarantine requirements in New York associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple winners (drivers)

# of wins	Driver	Years won
5	Tony Stewart	2002, 2004–2005, 2007, 2009
4	Jeff Gordon	1997–1999, 2001
3	Mark Martin	1993–1995
2	Rusty Wallace	1987, 1989
	Ricky Rudd	1988, 1990
	Marcos Ambrose	2011–2012
	Kyle Busch	2008, 2013
	Chase Elliott	2018–2019
	Kyle Larson	2021–2022

Multiple winners (teams)

# of wins	Team	Years won
11	Hendrick Motorsports	1986, 1990, 1997–1999, 2001, 2018–2019, 2021–2023
7	Joe Gibbs Racing	2002, 2004–2005, 2007–2008, 2013, 2016
4	RFK Racing	1993–1995, 2024
2	Blue Max Racing	1987, 1989
	Richard Childress Racing	2003, 2006
	Richard Petty Motorsports	2011–2012

Manufacturer wins

# of wins	Manufacturer	Years won
23	Chevrolet	1957, 1986, 1990–1991, 1997–2001, 2003–2007, 2009–2010, 2014, 2018–2019, 2021–2023, 2025
9	Ford	1965, 1993–1996, 2011–2012, 2015, 2024
4	Pontiac	1987, 1989, 1992, 2002
	Toyota	2008, 2013, 2016–2017
1	Mercury	1964
	Buick	1988