By Gary Walstrom
The Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International is set for Sunday August 8 at 3:00 PM. Tune in on NBC Sports, MRN radio, or SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 to catch Sunday’s action.
Welcome Back! It has been a while, two weeks to be exact. NASCAR has had the last two weeks off for the Olympics. I’m sure it was a nice break for drivers who needed to recharge their batteries, but for racing fans, it was a long two week hiatus. Now, NASCAR is heading up north, to Watkins Glen International in New York. Nicknamed “The Glen”, Watkins Glen is a 2.45 mile, seven turn road course. The 220.5 mile race will require 90 laps to complete. Each of the seven turns will be a challenge for drivers, but turns one, six and seven are the best places for drivers to complete passes. Road courses are quicker events so expect teams push hard on lap one. This race may come down to who can get in and out of the pits the fastest.
Season Article Best Value Bets (12-16: - 5.5 U)
Twitter Post Underdog Bets (11-11: -0.5 U)
Best Bet Recap - New Hampshire:
Article Best Value Bet: 1-0: +1 Unit
Twitter Post: 0-1: -1 Unit
Joey Logano (+100 DraftKings) vs. Chase Elliott: Elliott started off fast but faded as the race went on. Logano, who has been great this year on 750 HP tracks this year, had another solid day. Lognao finished 4th and Elliott finished 18th. Nice win.
Twitter H2H Matchup- Joey Logano (+115 Scores and Odds) vs. Brad Keselowski- I rarely double up on one driver for both bets, but Logano offered so much value. Before the race went under a red flag for rain, Logano was cruising through the field. It was during the red flag that Logano got in some trouble. NASCAR rules state that during a red flag (race is stopped), teams cannot work on the car. One of Logano’s crew members worked on the car momentarily during the red flag and Logano was issued a two lap penalty when the race restarted. Logano was able to battle to get back onto the lead lap but fell short of passing Keselowski on the final laps. Keselowski finished third while Logano finished fourth. Another note: if the race was not shortened because of darkness (no lights at the track), Lognao makes that pass. He was catching him, but ran out of time. Tough loss.
Drivers to Look Out For
Chase Elliott (+180 FanDuel)- Don’t need to go into too much depth here. He has won the last two races here at Watkins Glen and six of the last eight road courses overall. Only way he is not in the top 5 by the closing laps is because of a mechanical issue or got caught up in some type of wreck.
Kyle Larson (+420 FanDuel)- Another Hendrick car that has a very good chance to dominate. When Larson was driving for Ganassi, this was his best road course statistically. The last two trips here Larson finished 8th in 2019 and 6th in 2018. Now that he is driving in top tier equipment and for the best road course team, lookout. He stole the show away from teammate Elliott at Sonoma and finished 2nd to Elliott at Circuit of the Americas. If there is one driver who can compete with Elliott this weekend, I would look at the #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevy to be battling for the win.
Martin Truex Jr (+800 FanDuel)- Truex Jr has sort of faded when it comes to road courses this year. The last two years, he pushed Elliott at every road course. Before Elliott, Truex Jr was the king of road courses. I still think Truex Jr can compete for a solid finish and a potential win. His road course performance overall has fallen off. In the last 9 road course races (back to August 2019), Truex Jr has only lead 16 laps. Compare that to his run from June 2017- June 2019 (6 road course races), he led 179 laps. Despite the fall off, you can’t turn away from his history here. Last four races he has finishes 2nd, 2nd, 1st and 7th. He might be having a down year when it comes to road courses, but he’s a veteran. Will that two week break help MTJ find the edge he’s missing? Wouldn’t surprise me. His Toyota Camry will start 9th Sunday.
Best Value Bet
Denny Hamlin (-105 DraftKings) vs. Joey Logano- If there is a time to fade Logano, now is the time. While he has had some solid finishes on road courses this year, Watkins Glen hasn’t been too kind to him recently. In the last four races at The Glen (2019-2016, race cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic) Logano has finishes of 23rd, 37th, 24th, and 2nd. Hamlin during that same time frame has finishes of 3rd, 13th, 4th and 1st. That’s right, Hamlin is on a 4-0 sweep. Hamlin has shown that he can move through the field as well. In 2019, started 6th finished 3rd. 2017 started 11th finished 4th. 2016 started 6th and won the race. The only time Logano was able to move through the field was in 2016 when he started 7th and finished 2nd. In the last 10 road races, Hamlin has an average finish of 8.6 compared to Logano’s 10.1 and Hamlin also has more top 5 finishes. These two have an interesting history as they were once teammates at Joe Gibbs but when Logano left Gibbs for Penske in 2013, they have had many on track incidents. As long as Logano doesn’t wreck Hamlin Sunday (which wouldn’t surprise me), I like Hamlin’s #11 Toyota Camry in this spot!