Watkins Glen International hosts the 12th round of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season from Friday to Sunday, featuring all three national divisions and the ARCA Menards Series. This weekend marks the earliest appearance of the track on the NASCAR schedule.
Key points
Watkins Glen International hosts the 12th round of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season
The event features all three national divisions and the ARCA Menards Series
This is the earliest the track has ever appeared on the NASCAR schedule
New track limits will impact the race
Shane van Gisbergen aims for back-to-back wins
Mentioned in this story
Watkins Glen International
NASCAR Cup Series
Motorsport photo
Motorsport photo
Watkins Glen International hosts the 12th round of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and will feature all three national divisions and the ARCA Menards Series from Friday through Sunday. This is also the earliest the track has ever appeared on the NASCAR schedule.
Will Shane van Gisbergen go back-to-back, or will another driver capture the checkered flag at The Glen? Here's all some major storylines you need to keep an eye on throughout the NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen:
The Trackhouse triple and a potential weekend sweep
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
All three Trackhouse Racing drivers are taking part in each of the national division races this weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen (#97 Trackhouse Cup; #9 JRM O'Reilly; #4 Niece Truck), Connor Zilisch (#88 Trackhouse Cup; #1 JRM O'Reilly; #71 Spire Truck), and Ross Chastain (#1 Trackhouse Cup; #32 Jordan Anderson Racing O'Reilly; #45 Niece Truck) will have more laps than anyone else this weekend. SVG and Zilisch are both proven winners at The Glen, while Chastain's most recent Cup pole came at the NY road course. Should any of them manage to sweep the weekend, they will join elite company as Kyle Busch is the only driver to ever successfully pull off the triple weekend sweep (twice at Bristol).
A longer Cup race than previous years
Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
NASCAR has added ten additional laps to the Watkins Glen Cup race for 2026. As a result, there will be a longer second stage, and could change the strategy a bit. The fuel window is about 33 to 36 laps with stages of 20-30-50, so that will be something to keep an eye on come Sunday.
Avoiding intentional wrecking penalties
Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Ryan Preece and Kyle Busch reminded drivers of something rather important this past week in NASCAR. Intentional wrecking may not always be penalized, but if you voice your intentions before taking action, that is almost always a guaranteed penalty. That mistake cost Preece 25 valuable points and $50,000. The Glen is a place where tempers often boil over, but a lapse in judgment could completely alter a driver's season if they don't keep those emotions in check.
Before taking part in the Indianapolis 500 for the fifth time in her career, the multi-time IMSA race winner is back behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car. Legge will drive the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, and she earned the team its best non-drafting track finish ever last year when she placed 17th in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. It will be interesting to see if she can improve on that in her first start of the 2026 season, which comes at the site of a IMSA GTD Pro class win for Legge (in 2017).
There are some very big names right around the cut-line in the points battle to make the 2026 Chase. Sitting on the bubble in 16th is Chase Briscoe, just seven points ahead of Joey Logano. Behind Logano is Ross Chastain, 26 points adrift. Logano is a 3x champion while both Chastain and Briscoe advanced into the Championship 4 under the previous format. But the real name to watch this weekend is one point below Chastain -- his teammate in the No. 97 Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen is 27 points behind Briscoe, and Watkins Glen could be huge for him in carving a path back towards the top 16.