Watkins Glen Go Bowling At The Glen Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Shane van Gisbergen
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – Defending Watkins Glen champ, Shane van Gisbergen will be tough to beat in the Go Bowling At The Glen. SVG’s beatable since Trackhouse isn’t where they need to be competitively, but I still think the road to victory lane goes thru him. Since 2025 at road courses, SVG has the best Track Type Total Speed Ranking, 5-wins, a 1.9 average finish, a 3.2 average running position and the best Driver Rating by a wide margin. At COTA to begin the season, SVG finished 2nd and had the 2nd best Total Speed Ranking.
Watkins Glen Track History – Shane van Gisbergen has been elite at Watkins Glen and in the Next Gen, he ranks #1 for Speed Rankings, Driver Rating and Average Finish (1.5). In terms of the results column, he’s 1-2. Last year, SVG took the competition to the woodshed and raced his way to victory lane with an 11.1 second margin of victory. In the race, SVG led 38 laps, earned the best Driver Rating, had the best average running position (4.0), had the best Total Speed Ranking and ranked as the fastest driver late in a run. In 2024, SVG was impressive and nearly raced his way to victory lane. In the race, SVG finished 2nd, had the 2nd best average running position (5.6) and earned the 2nd best Driver Rating. During an overtime restart, SVG shot to the lead (only led 1 lap) but then on the final lap, he slightly messed up in a turn and then Chris Buescher got around him for the win. In terms of speed analytics, SVG ranked #1 for Total Speed Rankings and Speed Late In A Run.

Christopher Bell
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – 3-time road course race winner, Christopher Bell has been elite at Watkins Glen and on Sunday, look for Bell to be a top five contender who’ll be a factor to win. Bell’s one of the premiere road course racers in NASCAR and he’s thrived at Watkins Glen. Since 2025 at road courses, Bell has the 2nd best Track type Total Speed Ranking and over the combined races his average finish is 5.7. To begin the 2026 season on this track type, Bell finished 3rd at COTA. At Watkins Glen, Bell’s 4 for 5 at finishing in the top ten and minus 2024 his average finish is 5th
Watkins Glen Track History – Christopher Bell has been elite at Watkins Glen and in the Next Gen, Bell has the 3rd best average finish (6.8), the 4th best Driver Rating and ranks 5th for Speed Rankings. Last year, Bell was stout and finished runner-up, passing Buescher for 2nd on the last lap. In the race, Bell started 9th, had the 5th best average running position (8.9), earned the 3rd best Driver Rating and had the 2nd best Total Speed Ranking. In 2024, Bell’s race was far from incident free and it’s actually a little surprising he finished 14th. In the race, Bell was involved in a lap #1 accident, had driven up to 13th on lap 58 but then just after that on lap 62, Austin Dillon spun him out while he was coming to pit road which dropped him back to the high 20’s in the running order. With multiple problems, don’t get carried away with takeaways for his afternoon. In addition to finishing 14th, Bell had the 19th best Driver Rating and the 20th best Total Speed Ranking. In 2023, Bell had a 5.4 average running position and then finished 4th overall. In terms of speed stats, Bell ranked as the fastest driver late in a run and had the 4th best Total Speed Ranking. In 2022, Bell started in the back due to an engine change but raced his way up to an 8th place finish. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Bell ranked 8th. In 2021, Bell finished 7th but that’s an asterisk mark result. In the race, Bell started in the rear of the field, finished 2nd in Stage #2 and then in the final Stage while running in 2nd on lap 55 (90 lap race), Bell was spun which dropped him back to 10th. In the race, Bell had the 6th best Total Speed Ranking.

Tyler Reddick
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – 4-time road course race winner and this spring’s COTA champ, Tyler Reddick will be tough to beat at Watkins Glen and on Sunday, I think he’ll be a top five contender who’ll be a factor to win. At The Glen in the Next Gen, Reddick’s 3 for 4 at finishing between 7th to 9th but I think he’s ready to best that. Since 2025 at road courses, Reddick has the 3rd best average finish (7.4), the 3rd best average running position, the 3rd best Driver Rating and ranks 9th in terms of Total Speed Rankings.
Watkins Glen Track History – Tyler Reddick has been strong at Watkins Glen and overall, he’s 4 for 5 at finishing in the top ten and has an 8.5 average finish minus 2024. Last year, Reddick started 21st, had a 17.3 average running position but finished 9th when the checkered flag waved. In terms of speed analytics, Reddick ranked 18th for Total Speed Rankings and 15th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2024, Reddick had an ugly afternoon and went on to finish 27th. In the race, Reddick started 16th, finished 7th in Stage #1 but then his afternoon went south. During the restart for Stage #2, Reddick spun out and lost contact with the field and then said his car just didn’t feel right. From that point on he was quite uncompetitive and then to cap off the race on lap 88, he wrecked with Busch while running back in the 20’s. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Reddick ranked 27th. In 2023, Reddick finished 8th, had a 10.8 average running position and ranked 13th for Total Speed Rankings. In 2022, Reddick finished 7th, had the 12th best Total Speed Ranking and ranked 6th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2021, Reddick finished 10th.

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