Watkins Glen International 2025 NASCAR Track Profile

[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ 2025 Racing Annual magazine. Order your copy online today, or buy one at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

The NASCAR Cup Series has been venturing to Watkins Glen International longer than any other road course on the schedule. The series first visited in 1957 and again in 1964-65 before making it an annual stop in 1986. The 2.45-mile road course has been called the superspeedway of road courses, a place where speed speaks louder than technical prowess. That somewhat levels the playing field between drivers raised on ovals and those with road racing backgrounds.

Look no further than the 2024 race at The Glen for proof of that, as it came down to a fierce last-lap battle between Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen. Buescher executed the bump-and-run to pass SVG and pick up his lone win of 2024 on the final lap. Both drivers are consistently fast at road courses, so Round 2 could be on the books this year.

Prior to Buescher’s win, Watkins Glen had been all Hendrick Motorsports. The team won five straight races from 2018-23 (there was no race in 2020 due to COVID-19). Two wins went to both Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson while William Byron claimed the other. Elliott and Larson are tied with Kyle Busch for the most Glen wins among active drivers with two each.

As with any road course, AJ Allmendinger is one to watch. The Kaulig Racing driver owns five top 10s here (one win, 2014) in the last eight visits. And what makes this most impressive is that he’s done so in under-funded equipment.

Lastly, while he has yet to score a victory in upstate New York, Christopher Bell has been a model of consistency, earning three top 10s and an average finish of 8.0 in the last four races a The Glen.

Watkins Glen International track info

Site: Watkins Glen, New York

Laps: 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course

Elevation change: 124 feet

2025 Dates: April 27, Oct. 19

Distance: 90 laps, 220.5 miles

2024 winner

Chris Buescher

Scouting report

This is the superspeedway of road courses in the sense that it has the highest speeds with only the bus stop chicane as a legitimate heavy breaking zone. It’s arguably the most action-packed road course of the Next Gen era because this car is at its best when drivers are on the gas and keeping the car from planting, thus making it easier to move from contact. The camping experience at Watkins Glen is also one of the absolute best in motorsports given the weather in upstate New York in late summer.