The Turn 1 grandstands provided a perfect view of the deciding action during last year’s NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen International.
For contending drivers, Turn 1 provided either a pathway to victory or road to ruin, with the outcomes of two of the three races during Go Bowling at The Glen weekend dictated by what took place at the 90-degree right-hander that greets drivers seconds after restarts.
With five laps to go, Kyle Larson maneuvered past Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who was left high and dry after picking the outside lap, and held on to repeat as winner of the Cup Series’ Go Bowling at The Glen.
Two days earlier, Brandon Jones took advantage of side-by-side contact between Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray in Turn 1 on the final lap of the ARCA Menards Series race to gain the win. In between, some shuffling out of the track’s first turn was a pivotal part of the Xfinity Series event won by Larson.
All three race series return to The Glen the weekend of Aug. 18 to 20, with ARCA’s General Tire 100 at The Glen at 6 p.m. Friday, Xfinity Series’ Shriner’s Children’s 200 at The Glen at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and the Go Bowling at The Glen at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The obvious question: Will any of the races come down to Turn 1 chaos off a restart? Recent history says yes.
More:Kyle Larson wins second straight race at Watkins Glen as he seeks to defend NASCAR championship
Turn 1 has plenty of history
Turn 1 has always had its moments at Watkins Glen since becoming an annual stop for Cup drivers in 1986.
In 2007, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon each spun out in Turn 1 while leading before Stewart took the checkered flag.
In 2011 Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose ended up three-wide on a restart with two laps left before Ambrose overtook Keselowski for the win.
That trio went bumper to bumper to bumper again in 2012. Busch started the final lap in the lead, went wide in Turn 1, then was spun by Keselowski after returning to the track as Ambrose went on to win…
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