2006 AMD at The Glen - Watkins Glen International

This weekend Watkins Glen International hosts the second, and final, road race of the season. The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup stars head to picturesque upstate New York for the AMD at The Glen. Tony Stewart dominated here in 2005 to take the easy win. How will the NEXTEL Cup drivers fare this year on the twisty Watkins Glen circuit?

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Watkins Glen is a 2.45 mile 11 turn road course. This picturesque race track features some dramatic elevation changes and the dreaded "Inner Loop" which is a chicane at the end of the backstretch which never fails to confound a few drivers every year.

90 laps = 220.5 miles

Jimmie Johnson is starting to look like a Champion as he picked up the convincing win last week in Indy. Dale Earnhardt Jr. slipped inside the top ten. Kasey Kahne's bad luck at Indy dropped out of the top ten, 37 points behind Junior.

The current top ten in points are:

1. Jimmie Johnson -0
2. Matt Kenseth -107
3. Jeff Burton -366
4. Kevin Harvick -391
5. Kyle Busch -391
6. Mark Martin -412
7. Denny Hamlin -486
8. Jeff Gordon -497
9. Tony Stewart -509
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -512

Silly Season takes center stage this weekend.

Jeremy Mayfield was replaced in the Ray Evernham Motorsports #19 by NASCAR veteran Bill Elliott. The rumor is that Mayfield will be going to Bill Davis Racing in 2007 as Toyota joins NEXTEL Cup. Since Mayfield wasn't doing well this year apparently Evernham decided to release him early.

Add that to the mess at Robert Yates Racing and you've got a lot of open seats and not enough drivers to fill them.

TV: NBC Sunday, August 13th, 1:00PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and XM Satellite

Actual Race: 1:35PM Eastern

$4,705,975

Tony Stewart really had them covered all day long. The only guy who managed to mount any kind of challenge was Jeff Gordon. However, Jeff had a problem with a flat tire that messed up his pit strategy and he was not a factor in the race after that.

Tony lead 83 of the 92 laps and coasted home for his fifth win in the last seven races. Tony Stewart was on a roll that would lead him all the way to the 2005 NEXTEL Cup title.

When you are talking about road racing in NEXTEL Cup two names immediately come to mind.

Tony Stewart has won three of the last four NEXTEL Cup races at Watkins Glen International. The defending NEXTEL Cup Champion needs to get his season back on track to get him more comfortably into The Chase. This weekend could be a great opportunity for him to do exactly that.

Jeff Gordon picked up the win earlier this season at Infineon Raceway. Gordon also has won four times at The Glen. Gordon won four out of five from 1997 through 2001. Jeff Gordon has proven himself to be a NEXTEL Cup road racing expert and you have to consider him a favorite every time the heavy Cup cars have to turn right.