Successive second place finishes back in Sonoma and Daytona have directed much attention to No. 14 of Stewart-Haas Racing. Since then, Bowyer has been inconsistent in his succeeding four races, finishing with a pair of top 10’s, a 30th finish, and a 13th over that stretch. That includes a strong sixth place campaign last week at the Pennsylvania 400. Bowyer’s inconsistency of late, however, could be negated by the fact that he’s always been a strong performer at Watkins Glen International, where he’s had a top six finish in three of his last five races there.
Larson hasn’t had a lot of experience racing at Watkins Glen so far in his career, having burned rubber there just three times before. The small sample size, however, is encouraging, as he’s finished no worse than 12th place in two of those races. That being said, he didn’t fare well in his latest road course test, as he went 26th at Sonoma Raceway late June.
Elliot has revved his engine just once at Watkins Glen so far in his career. That was last year when he finished 13th at the Cheez-it 355 at The Glen. The lack of substantial experience of Elliott certainly draws back potential bettors but looking from a different angle, you could say there’s terrific value on the No. 24 driver of Hendrick Motorsports, as he has two top 20’s in five career road course races. As what his performance last year at Watkins Glen suggests, he could be a strong driver here.
