2021 Go Bowling at The Glen explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 23 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	Go Bowling at The Glen
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]
Year:	2021
Location:	Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York
Course Mi:	2.45
Course Km:	3.94
Distance Laps:	90
Distance Mi:	220.5
Distance Km:	354.6
Avg:	101.031mph
Pole Driver:	Brad Keselowski
Pole Team:	Team Penske
Grid From Prev Perf:	yes
Most Driver:	Martin Truex Jr.
Most Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Most Laps:	34
Car:	5
First Driver:	Kyle Larson
First Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Network:	NBCSN
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Steve Letarte (booth), Mike Bagley (Esses), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Turn 5) and Jeff Burton (Turns 6–7)
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (Esses), Kurt Becker (Turn 5) and Kyle Rickey (Turns 10–11)

The 2021 Go Bowling at The Glen was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 8, 2021, at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. Contested over 90 laps on the 2.45miles road course, it was the 23rd race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Watkins Glen International (nicknamed "The Glen") is an automobile race track located in Watkins Glen, New York at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980), but the site has been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the IndyCar Series.

Initially, public roads in the village were used for the race course. In 1956 a permanent circuit for the race was built. In 1968 the race was extended to six hours, becoming the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. The circuit's current layout has more or less been the same since 1971, although a chicane was installed at the uphill Esses in 1975 to slow cars through these corners, where there was a fatality during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. The chicane was removed in 1985, but another chicane called the "Inner Loop" was installed in 1992 after J.D. McDuffie's fatal accident during the previous year's NASCAR Winston Cup event.

The circuit is known as the Mecca of North American road racing and is a very popular venue among fans and drivers. The facility is currently owned by International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Manufacturer
00		Chevrolet
1		Chevrolet
2		Ford
3		Chevrolet
4		Ford
5		Chevrolet
6		Ford
7		Chevrolet
8		Chevrolet
9		Chevrolet
10		Ford
11		Toyota
12		Ford
14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
15		Chevrolet
17		Ford
18		Toyota
19		Toyota
20		Toyota
21		Ford
22		Ford
23		Toyota
24		Chevrolet
34		Ford
37		Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
41		Ford
42		Chevrolet
43		Chevrolet
47		Chevrolet
48		Chevrolet
51		Ford
52		Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Ford
77	Justin Haley (i)	Chevrolet
78		Ford
99		Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Starting Lineup

Pos		Driver	Manufacturer
1	2		Ford
2	22		Ford
3	12		Ford
4	5		Chevrolet
5	4		Ford
6	11		Toyota
7	20		Toyota
8	10		Ford
9	19		Toyota
10	48		Chevrolet
11	9		Chevrolet
12	42		Chevrolet
13	8		Chevrolet
14	21		Ford
15	24		Chevrolet
16	3		Chevrolet
17	1		Chevrolet
18	47		Chevrolet
19	41		Ford
20	18		Toyota
21	99		Chevrolet
22	43		Chevrolet
23	37		Chevrolet
24	17		Ford
25	34		Ford
26	23		Toyota
27	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
28	6		Ford
29	7		Chevrolet
30	77	Justin Haley (i)	Chevrolet
31	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
32	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Chevrolet
33	78		Ford
34	52		Ford
35	00		Chevrolet
36	51		Ford
37	15		Chevrolet
Official starting lineup

Race

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Keselowski spun early while leading as teammate Joey Logano won the first stage. Martin Truex Jr. would win the second stage and led the most laps. Keselowski returned to the lead, but spun again and collected Logano, causing small damage to both cars. Kyle Larson made contact with Christopher Bell, sending him spinning. Larson then took the lead from Truex and held off teammate Chase Elliott for his fifth win and second road win of the season.

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 20

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	7
5	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	2
10	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 20

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	8
4	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	6
6	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	4
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	2
10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 50

Larson's victory put him in a tie with Hamlin for the regular-season points lead.

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	4	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	56
2	11	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	38
3	9	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	44
4	20	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	39
5	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	43
6	15	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	37
7	7	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	39
8	5	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	90	37
9	27	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	90	34
10	13	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	34
11	14	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	90	30
12	12	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	30
13	17	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	24
14	3	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	90	23
15	16	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	24
16	8	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	90	21
17	24	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	90	20
18	19	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	90	19
19	18	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	90	18
20	10	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	21
21	25	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	90	16
22	2	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	90	27
23	26	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	90	14
24	29	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	13
25	28	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	90	12
26	31	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	89	11
27	22	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	11
28	23	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	89	9
29	30	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	0
30	33	78	Kyle Tilley	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	89	7
31	21	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	88	6
32	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	88	5
33	34	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	88	4
34	37	15	R. C. Enerson	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	88	3
35	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	87	2
36	32	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	87	0
37	36	51	James Davison	Petty Ware Racing	Ford	41	1
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 7 among 7 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 4 for 6
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 2 hours, 10 minutes and 57 seconds
Average speed: 101.031mph

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side as part of a Radio style Broadcast for the race. Rick Allen and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. MRN broadcaster Mike Bagley called the race from the Esses, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call from Turn 5, and Jeff Burton had the call from a platform located off Turn 10 that covers Turns 6–7. Parker Kligerman and Dillon Welch handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

Motor Racing Network had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle covered the action when the field raced down the front straightaway. Dave Moody called the race when the field raced thru the esses. Kurt Becker covered the action when the field raced thru the inner loop and turn 5 and Kyle Rickey covered the action in turn 10 & 11. Steve Post & Kim Coon called the action from the pits for MRN.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Kyle Larson	917
1	2	Denny Hamlin	917 (–0)
	3	William Byron	786 (–131)
	4	Kyle Busch	779 (–138)
	5	Joey Logano	760 (–157)
	6	Chase Elliott	749 (–168)
	7	Martin Truex Jr.	740 (–177)
	8	Ryan Blaney	712 (–205)
1	9	Kevin Harvick	710 (–207)
1	10	Brad Keselowski	678 (–239)
	11	Alex Bowman	633 (–284)
	12	Tyler Reddick	630 (–287)
	13	Austin Dillon	615 (–302)
	14	Kurt Busch	576 (–341)
	15	Christopher Bell	571 (–346)
	16	Chris Buescher	495 (–422)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	852
1	2	Toyota	789 (–63)
1	3	Ford	787 (–65)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . June 21, 2021.
Web site: Watkins Glen International. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 21, 2021. January 3, 2013. April 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170428035826/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/watkins-glen-international.html. dead.
Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 2, 2021. August 2, 2021.
Web site: Starting Lineup. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. August 4, 2021. August 4, 2021.
Web site: Go Bowling at The Glen Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. August 8, 2021. August 8, 2021.
Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 8, 2021. August 8, 2021.