NASCAR O'Reilly

BUSCH: McLaughlin Watkins Glen preview

McLaughlin shoots for 7th straight top-five in Watkins Glen WATKINS GLEN, NY -- (July 5, 2001) -- Growing up as a child in Waterloo, NY, Mike McLaughlin always had dreams of going fast and turning left. Little did he know that he would grow up ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

McLaughlin shoots for 7th straight top-five in Watkins Glen

WATKINS GLEN, NY -- (July 5, 2001) -- Growing up as a child in Waterloo, NY, Mike McLaughlin always had dreams of going fast and turning left. Little did he know that he would grow up to drive fast and turn left and right on the tricky road course located just 45 minutes away called Watkins Glen International.

As he enters the GNC Live Well 200 on Sunday, McLaughlin has built a reputation as the best NASCAR Busch Series regular at road course racing. With six consecutive top-five finishes at Watkins Glen, including a win, McLaughlin will be among the favorites for the win on Sunday.

Sunday will also mark the debut of McLaughlin in the # 18 MBNA Pontiac after driving an unsponsored # 20 car all season long. Joe Gibbs Racing announced this week a move to a one car team and a number change for McLaughlin.

"Watkins Glen has always been a good place for me in the past and now with MBNA on our car, I am really looking forward to Sunday's race," McLaughlin said. "The last few races we have run into problems out of our control, hopefully this weekend, we can run up front and contend for a win."

McLaughlin believes there is a good reason for his past success at Watkins Glen.

"I have always had very good, consistent racecars here and that is key to finishing up front. We have always been well prepared in the past. I know it will be the same this weekend, the MBNA Racing Team will give me a great racecar."

McLaughlin realizes this weekend's race will bring an influx of road racing specialists to the track. In order to win, he will have to beat the likes of Ron Fellows, Robby Gordon, and Boris Said.

"I look forward to competing against those guys, they are all great racers. In the past when we came here we had to worry about racing against Winston Cup drivers, now it's the road racing guys we have to beat, but that's an exciting challenge."

Sunday will be a big race in the life of the driver they call "Magic Shoes", the hometown fans and family will be cheering him on as he turns left and right, searching for another win at Watkins Glen. Sunday's race takes the green flag at 1:00pm EDT. TNT and MRN will provide live coverage of the event.

-JGR-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article BUSCH: Jeff Green Watkins Glen preview

Next article BUSCH: Watkins Glen post qualifying quotes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 4 h

Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

8 h

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts