Watkins Glen is back on the track’s traditional weekend this year. The race has been held in August every year since 1986 with the exception of 2020 (when the race was cancelled due to COVID-19) and last year, when it was in September. Only the 2016-2019 and 2022-2024 races at Watkins Glen in the Modern Era have been held outside of this weekend.
Typically, the hottest weather of the year is prior to this weekend. It’s usually comfortable and chilly enough at night that you could bring sweaters. That isn’t the case this year.
Friday is going to be the nicest day of the weekend. The forecast is for sunny skies and a high of 84° with low humidity.
Saturday will see temperatures begin to creep upwards. It’s still going to be sunny with little to no chance of rain, but the high will be around 87°.
Sunday will be the hottest day of the weekend. There will be sunny skies with a high around 91°. It is the beginning of a heat wave that the Finger Lakes region will be in for much of next week.
Historically, the weather has been up and down in Watkins Glen. The mid-2000s were problematic if you weren’t full-time. Back then, qualifying was rained out four out of five years.
Race-wise, the race has been postponed to Monday three times in the past (1987, 2009 and 2011). The 2009 postponement was rough in that they were less than a minute from the command to start engines before everything stopped due to lightning in the area. The late afternoon meant that they couldn’t dry the track in time to get all 90 laps in.
In 2011, there was rain most of the day. It was also the same day that rain affected the most recent IndyCar race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Being at the delayed race, I can attest that it’s rather surprising that it got in. It was raining at the track 20 minutes prior to the command, and much of the event ran in fog thick enough that if it wasn’t a road course race, it would be red-flagged due to lack of vision from the tower. Finally, it poured after the race.
There has also been one race that was rain-shortened. That was the 1992 Bud at the Glen, which was delayed for hours due to rain that started on the pace laps. It started raining again just after halfway, resulting in the race being called after 51 laps.
In recent years, NASCAR has introduced rain tires to Watkins Glen. They have used them a couple of times in races, most recently in 2022.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.