NASCAR’s annual trip to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International brought storylines aplenty after the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series finished up at the historic 2.45-mile road course.
Including playoff implications, teammate turmoil and a Formula 1 legend’s Cup Series debut, The Glen provided many talking points heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Raikkonen Flashes In Debut
It was unknown how 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen would fair in his Cup Series debut. However, the Finnish driver flexed his muscle throughout the Go Bowling At The Glen weekend.
Piloting the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, the 42-year-old qualified 27th, but ran as high as eighth.
Along the way came an entertaining battle with 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott.
Though was collected in a lap-46 incident and finished 37th, Raikkonen’s debut was a launching point for himself, and many others, that NASCAR can offer a viable alternative for foreign drivers looking for an opportunity.
“I don’t see any risk — why not? What do I have to lose? If I do bad in a NASCAR race or bad in any race, I don’t care — I do it for myself,” Raikkonen said. “A good or bad end result, it could happen even if I did 20 races. They all could be bad for many different reasons.
“I don’t see any negative,” Raikkonen continued. “I think it’s great what Justin (Marks) and the team is doing giving a chance for all of us from Europe. It’s not as known. Obviously over the years, NASCAR is more known there, but I’m sure there are a lot of drivers that would like to have a chance to try it. It’s not very easy, so maybe it will open some doors in the future for more chances to try and get more Europeans into the sport.”
Raikkonen wasn’t the only international driver in the field. Germany’s Mike Rockenfeller, Loris Hezemans from the Netherlands, Russia’s Danil Kvyat, Kyle Tilley from the United Kingdom, and Mexico’s Daniel Suarez represented the most diverse field in Cup Series history.
Larson vs. Elliott, Part Two
Kyle Larson used up the right side of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott’s car enough to take over the lead and drive away for the victory.
Many may say it was fair play.
Elliott wasn’t too pleased with the outcome but chose not to elaborate when questioned about the incident.
“It doesn’t matter. The day’s done, just thinking about Bristol (Daytona), what I need to do to be good there,” Elliott said. “There is nothing I can do about today (Sunday), now. So, it doesn’t matter does it?
“I’ll answer that for you, it does not. It doesn’t matter.”
From Larson’s perspective, it was simply hard racing. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet felt that his chance to win hung in the balance on the restart.
“Again, I’m not necessarily proud of it, especially with a teammate, but I feel like I had to execute that way to get the win,” Larson said after the race.
A conversation between the two drivers may be in order, however, it remains to be seen how they’ll handle the situation as the playoffs near.
Logano Getting Hot
Even though Joey Logano has two victories and is solidly locked into the playoffs, it’s been feast or famine for the driver of the No. 22 Ford this season.
However, after a third-place effort at Watkins Glen, it marked the fourth consecutive top-six finish for the Team Penske driver.
“A lot of positives. (The) stage win was big, finished third after taking a stage win,” Logano said. “That doesn’t happen on road courses very often. Everyone just did a tremendous job on this race team executing this race. There are days you maximize the race and you feel good about it. We did more than maximize I think than what we had. Just proud of what we were able to accomplish here. Good restarts, good strategy, whether it was the stage win or the two-tire call, the restarts, all that together. Just really got a lot out of it.”
Logano believes the No. 22 team isn’t quite there on speed, however, he feels the consistency of maximizing points will eventually result in finding what the team needs during the playoffs.
Sammy Smith, NASCAR’s Next Star?
The name Sammy Smith may not be well known in NASCAR yet, but soon it will.
Driving on a part-time basis for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, Smith wheeled his No. 18 Toyota to an impressive third-place effort.
For Smith, it was his first career top-five finish, in only his fourth start.
“I learned a lot. It was a good day overall,” Smith said. “We had a good day as a team and I was able to capitalize. The last few races I didn’t feel like I was able to capitalize and I feel like I did a better job today. Looking forward to Daytona next week.”
One day earlier, Smith led the most laps in the ARCA Menards Series race at The Glen, before ultimately finishing fifth in a car fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The 18-year-old is primed for a full-time Xfinity Series ride next season.
Playoff Chances Closing For Truex Jr.
Watkins Glen was not a good weekend for Martin Truex Jr.
The 2017 winner at The Glen struggled to find speed and felt “perplexed” after qualifying 25th.
The race didn’t go much better either for the 2017 Cup Series champion. He finished 23rd in a quiet day for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Now, as the final regular season race looms Saturday night at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Truex is in a 25-point hole to Ryan Blaney for what would be the 16th and final playoff spot provided another driver doesn’t sweep in and steal the playoff berth by winning at Daytona.
Anything can happen at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, however, a win may be the only thing that keeps Truex’s championship aspirations alive.
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