Big Time Racing This Weekend Just A Couple Hours Drive From Buffalo

Five races remain before the Nascar playoffs begin and a number of spots in the 12-driver field are far from being decided. The top 10 get in and then two wild cards. Right now, Brad Keselowski holds the first wild card position and Denny Hamlin has the second. A lot can change over the next few weeks.

This week it’s off to Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes, just a few hour's drive from Buffalo.  It's the second and final road course race and with all kinds of twists and turns Keselowski will have a lot tougher time with his broken left ankle than he did at Pocono. He’ll be using the same car he used at Sonoma in June when he finished in the top 10.

Tony Stewart is the road course ace at Watkins Glen with a record five wins there. He finished either first or second for six straight races until he came in seventh last year. Stewart stands ninth in points, just one point up on Dale Earnhardt, Jr.   Stewart and Earnhardt have yet to win a race this year.

Juan Pablo Montoya was last year’s winner at Watkin’s Glen leading 74 of 90 laps. His only two Sprint Cup wins have both come at road course tracks – the other at Sonoma in 2007.

Another driver who’s done well at Watkins Glen is Marcus Ambrose. In three starts at the Glen he’s finished either second or third. He’s won the last three Nationwide races here as well.

Next year’s two Sprint Cup races at Pocono will be shorted from 500 to 400 miles. A spokesman for the track says the shorter distance will change race strategies and fuel calculations and they believe it’ll make for a more exciting race. Nascar endorsed the change.