Montoya and Gordon favored when NASCAR hits The Glen
Montoya and Gordon favored when NASCAR hits The Glen
While the race sponsors come and go, the 11-turn, nearly 2.5-mile track at Watkins Glen remains the same, one of just two road races on the Cup circuit.
Now that’s a mouthful.
This Sunday’s stop (2:00 p.m. Eastern, ESPN) on the NASCAR Cup circuit is officially called the “Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.” You may remember this race from its previous incarnations as Centurion Boats at The Glen, the AMD at The Glen, or the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen. And that’s just dating back to 2002.
The important thing to remember is The Glen. That would be Watkins Glen International, based in New York state and host to one of only two road races on the Cup calendar. The other is the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. It’s go time for handicappers whenever NASCAR makes a visit to one of these road courses; not every driver out there is good at turning right, and part-time Cup drivers with Formula 1 or Champ Car experience will suddenly appear out of the woodwork.
Among the most famous of the road ringers is Boris Said, who has confirmed he’ll be in the No. 8 Carter Racing Ford at Watkins Glen – provided he qualifies. Other familiar names expected to make an appearance include Brian Simo (No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota), Ron Fellows (No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet) and Max Papis (No. 13 Germain Racing Toyota).
These men are all accomplished drivers, but the one accomplishment they’re all lacking is the only one that matters for our purposes: a Cup series victory. No part-time road ringer has won a Cup race since 1973, when Mark Donahue took the Motor Trend 500 at the old Riverside track. Papis, who crashed out of his Watkins Glen debut last year, is the only ringer from this group to show up on the betting odds list at 100-1. Everyone else is lumped in with the field at 20-1.
The full-time drivers on the circuit have the decisive advantage of working with better equipment. And there happen to be three men lined up for Sunday who could be considered full-time road ringers: Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy), Robby Gordon (No. 7 Robby Gordon Toyota), and Marcos Ambrose (No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota). Montoya and Ambrose are tied at 13-2, while Gordon is 18-1.
Montoya, the former CART champion and Formula 1 veteran, won the 2007 Toyota/SaveMart 350 in his first season on the Cup circuit. He still only has that one victory to his name, but Montoya finished fourth at Watkins Glen last year and is currently in eighth place in the Cup standings. Ambrose is the lesser known driver of the two, but the two-time V8 Supercar champ from Tasmania finished one spot ahead of Montoya at The Glen last year, and that was in his rookie Cup campaign. Gordon is on the outside looking in; his last Cup victory was at The Glen in 2003, when he was still with Richard Childress Racing.
Although the ringers bring some much-needed flavor to NASCAR, this week’s favorites at Watkins Glen are Tony Stewart (No. 14 Stewart Haas Racing Chevy) at 4-1 and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy) at 5-1. Stewart has four lifetime wins at The Glen in 10 appearances and has finished either first or second in each of the last five races. Gordon also has four wins at The Glen, but the latest was in 2001. His best finish since then was ninth place at the 2007 event, won by Stewart.
The defending champion at Watkins Glen is Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), and he’s available at 7-1 for Sunday. Busch has definitely gotten the hang of road racing; he also won at Sonoma in 2008 and was a Top 10 driver at The Glen in both 2006 and 2007. Those recent results illustrate Busch’s betting value in this situation, at least compared to Stewart, Gordon, and the road ringers.
While the race sponsors come and go, the 11-turn, nearly 2.5-mile track at Watkins Glen remains the same, one of just two road races on the Cup circuit.
Now that’s a mouthful.
This Sunday’s stop (2:00 p.m. Eastern, ESPN) on the NASCAR Cup circuit is officially called the “Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.” You may remember this race from its previous incarnations as Centurion Boats at The Glen, the AMD at The Glen, or the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen. And that’s just dating back to 2002.
The important thing to remember is The Glen. That would be Watkins Glen International, based in New York state and host to one of only two road races on the Cup calendar. The other is the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. It’s go time for handicappers whenever NASCAR makes a visit to one of these road courses; not every driver out there is good at turning right, and part-time Cup drivers with Formula 1 or Champ Car experience will suddenly appear out of the woodwork.
Among the most famous of the road ringers is Boris Said, who has confirmed he’ll be in the No. 8 Carter Racing Ford at Watkins Glen – provided he qualifies. Other familiar names expected to make an appearance include Brian Simo (No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota), Ron Fellows (No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet) and Max Papis (No. 13 Germain Racing Toyota).
These men are all accomplished drivers, but the one accomplishment they’re all lacking is the only one that matters for our purposes: a Cup series victory. No part-time road ringer has won a Cup race since 1973, when Mark Donahue took the Motor Trend 500 at the old Riverside track. Papis, who crashed out of his Watkins Glen debut last year, is the only ringer from this group to show up on the betting odds list at 100-1. Everyone else is lumped in with the field at 20-1.
The full-time drivers on the circuit have the decisive advantage of working with better equipment. And there happen to be three men lined up for Sunday who could be considered full-time road ringers: Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy), Robby Gordon (No. 7 Robby Gordon Toyota), and Marcos Ambrose (No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota). Montoya and Ambrose are tied at 13-2, while Gordon is 18-1.
Montoya, the former CART champion and Formula 1 veteran, won the 2007 Toyota/SaveMart 350 in his first season on the Cup circuit. He still only has that one victory to his name, but Montoya finished fourth at Watkins Glen last year and is currently in eighth place in the Cup standings. Ambrose is the lesser known driver of the two, but the two-time V8 Supercar champ from Tasmania finished one spot ahead of Montoya at The Glen last year, and that was in his rookie Cup campaign. Gordon is on the outside looking in; his last Cup victory was at The Glen in 2003, when he was still with Richard Childress Racing.
Although the ringers bring some much-needed flavor to NASCAR, this week’s favorites at Watkins Glen are Tony Stewart (No. 14 Stewart Haas Racing Chevy) at 4-1 and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy) at 5-1. Stewart has four lifetime wins at The Glen in 10 appearances and has finished either first or second in each of the last five races. Gordon also has four wins at The Glen, but the latest was in 2001. His best finish since then was ninth place at the 2007 event, won by Stewart.
The defending champion at Watkins Glen is Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), and he’s available at 7-1 for Sunday. Busch has definitely gotten the hang of road racing; he also won at Sonoma in 2008 and was a Top 10 driver at The Glen in both 2006 and 2007. Those recent results illustrate Busch’s betting value in this situation, at least compared to Stewart, Gordon, and the road ringers.
