The 2014 Cheez-It 355 at The Glen was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 10, 2014, at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. Contested over 90 laps on the road course, it was the 22nd race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. A. J. Allmendinger won the race, his first career Sprint Cup victory. Marcos Ambrose finished second while Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson (the highest finishing rookie) and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. Behind Larson, the top rookies of the race were Austin Dillon in 16th, just ahead of Justin Allgaier.
Report
Background
The course, Watkins Glen International, is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races on the Cup Series circuit, the other being Sonoma Raceway. The standard short road course at Watkins Glen International is a 7-turn course that is long; the track was modified in 1992, adding the Inner Loop, which lengthened the long course to and the short course to the current length of . Kyle Busch was the defending race winner from the 2013 race.
Entry list The entry list for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen was released on Monday, August 4, 2014 at 12:25 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-three drivers were entered for the race.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski (PC2) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Tony Stewart (PC3) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC5) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC6) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Boris Said Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Alex Kennedy Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 41 Kurt Busch (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC1) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Joe Nemechek (i) Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 77 Nelson Piquet Jr. (i) Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford Official entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional
Practice
First practice Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 68.652 and a speed of . A number of drivers spun out during the first session. Danica Patrick changed engines during the session and was forced to start from the rear of the field.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 68.652 128.474 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 68.992 127.841 3 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 69.690 126.560 Official first practice results
Final practice A. J. Allmendinger was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 68.538 and a speed of . Patrick crashed her car in turn 5 and was forced to go to a backup car. NASCAR began cracking down on drivers for blend line violations during the practice sessions. Aric Almirola, Michael Annett, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman were issued penalties for blend line violations. Following the session, series leader Jeff Gordon stated that "for years we have not had that", but with the introduction of a new qualifying procedure in the 2014 season, Gordon also noted that "sometimes you just forget, but to me it's about going along with those procedures during practice and your spotter reminding you when you go out and practice; where those blend lines are and what the procedure is and just getting into a rhythm of it".
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 47 A. J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 68.538 128.688 2 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 68.541 128.682 3 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 68.553 128.660 Official final practice results
Qualifying
Jeff Gordon won his 75th career pole with a new track record time of 68.126 and a speed of ; it was Gordon's first pole of 2014, and as a result, it was a record 22nd consecutive year that Gordon has won a pole in the Sprint Cup Series. Gordon had set Watkins Glen as a priority in his 2014 campaign, as he felt he had "run so poorly here recently" and that his team "loses confidence in their car and you get off track and lost a little bit. That's the way it's been for us the last few times we've been here, the last several times". Marcos Ambrose joined Gordon on the front row, 0.173 seconds in arrears. He joked about Gordon beating him to pole, stating that he wished "Jeff was a little kinder to me to let me get the pole", but did state that "it was a pretty good lap though and I will take it".
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 68.455 68.126 2 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 68.113 68.299 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 68.669 68.389 4 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 68.356 68.447 5 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 68.661 68.470 6 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 68.446 68.531 7 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 68.524 68.806 8 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 68.684 68.810 9 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 68.573 68.878 10 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 68.561 68.978 11 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 68.741 69.035 12 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 68.792 69.171 13 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 68.796 — 14 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 68.836 — 15 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 68.892 — 16 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 68.993 — 17 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 69.024 — 18 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 69.060 — 19 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 69.136 — 20 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 69.137 — 21 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 69.143 — 22 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 69.273 — 23 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 69.280 — 24 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 69.297 — 25 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 69.315 — 26 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 69.316 — 27 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 69.341 — 28 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 69.344 — 29 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 69.352 — 30 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 69.442 — 31 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 69.548 — 32 77 Nelson Piquet Jr. Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 69.605 — 33 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 69.611 — 34 32 Boris Said Go FAS Racing Ford 69.684 — 35 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 69.719 — 36 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 70.098 — 37 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 70.242 — 38 33 Alex Kennedy Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 70.410 — 39 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 70.491 — 40 66 Joe Nemechek Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 70.503 — 41 40 Landon Cassill Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 70.568 — 42 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 70.571 — 43 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 70.585 — Official qualifying results
Race
First half
Start The night before the race, Tony Stewart was involved in an incident – which resulted in the death of fellow competitor, Kevin Ward Jr. – during a sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park, around from Watkins Glen. Prior to the start of the race, Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition for Stewart–Haas Racing, announced that Stewart would not race and Regan Smith would drive in his place. Zipadelli confirmed pre-race that Stewart "feels strongly this is the right thing to do" and that his Stewart–Haas Racing team supported and agreed with his decision. As a result of the driver change, Smith started from the rear of the field. The race was scheduled to start at 1:19 p.m. Eastern time, but the race started five minutes late with Jeff Gordon leading the field.
Kevin Harvick made an unscheduled stop on lap four to remove a bean bag from his car. Paul Menard also made an unscheduled stop for a fluid leak and took his car to the garage. Cole Whitt brought out the first caution of the race on lap 10 after his brakes locked up and he collided head on into the tire barrier in turn 1. The race restarted on lap 15, with Gordon still leading. The next lap, Brad Keselowski made contact with Matt Kenseth in turn 1 and the grill of his car caved in. Kyle Larson was running 23rd on lap 18 when he missed the turn into the inner loop, and was forced to come to a complete stop; as a result, Larson fell back to 38th. Two laps later, David Ragan and Boris Said blew the entrance to the inner loop and fell back in the running order. Alex Bowman spun in turn six and got back going again without bringing out the caution. Kyle Busch made his first stop on lap 24 and left his pit box with the fuel can stuck on the car; he served a stop-and-go penalty for removing equipment from the pit box.
Second half Joey Logano served a pass-through penalty for his crew going over the wall too soon on lap 28. Kyle Busch made his third stop in four laps for a flat tire on lap 29, while Marcos Ambrose gave up second place to make his first stop of the race. Gordon made his first stop on lap 30, passing the lead to teammate Kasey Kahne. Kahne gave up the lead on lap 33 to pit and gave the lead to Ambrose. Gordon began losing power going down the back stretch and brought out the second caution of the race on lap 51. Ambrose came in to pit during the caution and Jimmie Johnson took the lead for the restart on lap 55.
Big wreck The third caution of the race flew on lap 56 for a crash in the outer loop, a lap later, where the race was red flagged to ensue cleanup on the track. Greg Biffle drifted into the runoff area on the exit of turn 5 and came across the front of Ryan Newman. Newman's car got turned and hit the Armco barrier on the right-hand side, before turning back towards traffic. Newman's rear of the car then barely clipped McDowell in the right-rear. McDowell's rear wheel housing broke off, the car then bounced twice in the air and then punctured a hole in the Armco barrier on the left side of the track, beyond the exit of The Boot where it sent McDowell on his side for a brief second before he came back upright. Bowman and Danica Patrick also took damage in the wreck while David Ragan did an unbelievable job to avoid the wreck with no damage where he swerved a hard left to avoid Newman and then a hard right to avoid McDowell while somehow not spinning out. The red flag was shown temporarily to bring the field down the front stretch.