Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Every Friday before race day, we'll get you started with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.
The race: The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen, Watkins Glen, New York. I'll save my comments on the race name for Sunday's open comment thread.
The specs: 90 laps on a 2.45 mile track, 221 miles
The TV: ESPN, Sunday, 2:18 p.m. Eastern
Defending champ: The ever-limber Kyle Busch
The standings leaders: Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and please welcome Denny Hamlin to the top 5!
The history: Watkins Glen as a track dates back 50 years, but races have been run in the area long before that. The initial Watkins Glen Grand Prix was run in 1948 on a 6.6-mile course that ran through the roads of the village of Watkins Glen. But when a car plowed into spectators during a 1952 race, the course was moved to a more remote area of town.
The appropriate video: One of the worst wrecks in recent road course history happened last year, when Bobby Labonte, David Gilliland and seven others tangled just a few laps from the finish:
Guy with the most to gain: Kasey Kahne. He's well into the Chase lineup right now, but as we've seen many times, one bad race can send you tumbling. Still, Kahne has demonstrated success on road courses -- he won at Infineon earlier this year -- and if he's able to replicate that this weekend, he'll be in fine shape.
Guy with the most to lose: As with last week, and every week until he gets into the Chase, Kyle Busch. There's zero margin for error here and for the rest of the regular season. How will Kyle handle the do-or-do-not, there-is-no-try pressure?
Our pick to win: Kyle Busch, once again. The D00D is up against the wall here, and he's got experience and confidence on this track.
Fun Watkins Glen fact: Every race since the early 1960s has been known as "[Sponsor here] at the Glen," with corporate entities from Budweiser to Sirius Satellite Radio taking turns at the head of the title. Centurion Boats was last year's sponsor, but bailed a year early.
All right, you're up. Who's your pick to win?
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