Shane van Gisbergen will lead the field to green Sunday at Watkins Glen International after winning pole position for the Go Bowling at The Glen, the latest stop in the NASCAR Cup Series road-course run. The race starts at 3 p.m. ET on May 10 at the 2.45-mile track in Watkins Glen, New York.
Van Gisbergen, the defending race champion, was fastest in qualifying and goes into a 100-lap, 245-mile race that features three stages: Stage 1 ends at Lap 20, Stage 2 at Lap 50 and Stage 3 at Lap 100. FS1 will carry the race, with pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET, and the event can also be streamed on the Fox Sports website, Fox One, the Fox Sports app, HBO Max and Fubo.
Watkins Glen’s seven turns and 141 feet of elevation change make it one of the Cup Series’ most demanding road courses, and Sunday’s field includes several drivers who have already shown they can handle it. Chase Elliott, who won his second race of the 2026 season last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, owns back-to-back wins at The Glen from 2018 and 2019. Kyle Larson won here in 2021 and 2022, William Byron took the checkered flag in 2023 and Chris Buescher won at Watkins Glen in 2024.
Tyler Reddick, Connor Zilisch and Christopher Bell are also among the favorites, giving the race a deep group of contenders behind van Gisbergen. That leaves Sunday with a familiar Watkins Glen setup: a road course specialist on the pole, past winners in the mix and a track that has a habit of turning speed into surprises.
The question is whether anyone can get to van Gisbergen before the final stage begins, because at Watkins Glen, control at the front often matters more than reputation on paper.
