What has happened to Hendrick Motorsports? Our winners, losers from Watkins Glen race
What has happened to Hendrick Motorsports? Our winners, losers from Watkins Glen race
Tom Kreager, Nashville TennesseanMon, May 11, 2026 at 10:06 AM UTC
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What has happened to Hendrick Motorsports? Our winners, losers from Watkins Glen race
Shane van Gisbergen remains the king of road courses.
The Trackhouse Racing road course phenom moved from the back of the pack after a late pit stop to win the NASCAR Cup Series' Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International by more than seven seconds May 10.
How impressive was the win? He was 29.2 seconds behind the leader and made that up in 18 laps, passing Ty Gibbs for the lead with seven laps left.
He's now won six of the last eight road course/street races over the past two years. He finished second at COTA in the only other road course race this season.
Simply put: Shane van Gisbergen is the model road course driver the rest of the series is trying to emulate.
Here are The Tennessean's winners and losers from the Go Bowling at the Glen.
SVG FOR THE WIN: Who won NASCAR Watkins Glen race? Winner is Shane van Gisbergen, plus full results
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WinnerShane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen winning wasn't a surprise. How he did so was impressive. He made up 29.2 seconds late after a late pit stop in 18 laps to pass Ty Gibbs for the lead and pull away for the win, beating second-place finisher Michael McDowell by more than seven seconds. It's SVG's first win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season and his sixth road course/street race win in two seasons.
WinnerRichard Childress Racing
If any team needed a boost, it may be RCR. Both of the team's drivers, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, finished in the top 10. While neither finished in the top three, this in itself is an accomplishment. Dillon was sixth and Busch finished eighth. Both finishes were their best points finishes this season.
LoserHendrick Motorsports
It's hard to make excuses about a new Chevrolet model these days. Not with Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott winning a week ago at Texas and with five of the top-10 finishers driving Chevys.
Kyle Larson's struggles continue. He finished 23rd and wasn't fast all weekend. He hasn't won since May 2025. Elliott was 24th and Alex Bowman was 25th. And William Byron was 36th, finishing three laps down.
LoserTrackhouse Racing
Sure, SVG was the winner. But this was shaping up to be a huge opportunity for Trackhouse after all three of its drivers qualified in the top five. Connor Zilisch, who won the O'Reilly Auto Parts race the day before, finished 20th after a late-race flat tire while running second behind Ty Gibbs. He qualified fourth for the race.
And then there was Ross Chastain. He qualified fifth. His team chose not to pit during Stage 1. It led to a stage win, but then he needed to pit and moved to the rear of the field. He never really recovered, finishing 27th with four laps led.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on X at @Kreager.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Watkins Glen winners and losers: Hendrick Motorsports struggling
Source: “AOL Sports”
