It’s been six weeks since NASCAR visited a road course. Making all the right moves, and turns, at Sonoma, Kasey Kahne brought Richard Petty Motorsports its first victory in several years.

This week NASCAR visits Watkins Glen International, the second of two road courses on the NASCAR schedule. With only four races left until Richmond, focus is certainly going to be on the top 12 chase drivers. Only three of those drivers have victories at Watkins Glen. Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon both have four wins on the 2.45 mile road course. Geriatric Geronimo Mark Martin has three wins at the Glen.

Road racers Juan Pablo Montoya, Boris Said, and Robbie Gordon might be the dark horses here. Montoya has no wins this year, but is the most consistent driver in the past 10 races, and has his only win on a road course. Gordon has one win and four top 5’s in the past seven years. Said, a road racer specialist, is always a threat, even if it’s as a substitute driver.

On the outside looking in is Kyle Busch. Last year at this time Busch was sitting atop the driver standings and almost certainly looking at his first championship. He added more concrete to his solid standing by finishing first in last years race. This might be a chance for Busch to climb back into the chase. Busch, 101 points out of 12th place, has one win and two top 10’s in four starts at the Glen.

Sitting 12th in the standings, Greg Biffle has only 6 starts at the Glen. Road courses have not been kind to Biffle. He has only one top 10 finish and a bottom feeding average finish of 28.7.

Matt Kenseth is only one position and one point better in the standings. He has however faired slightly better on the road course. Kenseth has seven starts at the Glen and a mediocre average finish of 16.3.

This could be the week for Denny Hamlin to make it back to back wins, or for Kevin Harvick to find a little redemption. Hamlin has three starts at Watkins Glen, but has never finished outside the top 10 or finished worse than he started. Harvick has taken the green flag eight times at Watkins Glen, has an average finish of 11.2, and has only twice finished worse than he started.

Double file restarts are sure to shake things up this week. It could take several turns before the drivers start sorting out. A restart late in the race could provide several laps of beating and banging, and maybe a few wrinkled race cars before the checkered flag falls.

New York weather is a bit unstable this time of the year. Qualifying will be crucial for starting track position. Nine winners have come from the pole in the past 26 races at the Glen.

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