NASCAR 2016: Lineup, starting grid for Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen

When heavy fog and threatening weather forced NASCAR to call Monday’s race at Pocono Raceway short of its scheduled distance, it also did something else: it considerably clouded the playoff picture.

Although still not technically Chase for the Sprint Cup eligible, rookie Chris Buescher’s victory virtually qualified him for NASCAR’s playoffs. Beginning with Sunday’s Cheez-it 355 at Watkins Glen International (USA Network, 2:30 p.m. ET), he must erase a six-point deficit over the five remaining regular season races to climb inside the top-30 in points.

That unexpected win by a driver for a midsize team will in all likelihood come at the expense of someone with a bigger organization. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson momentarily holds the 16th and final Chase spot, but when Buescher becomes playoff eligible the cutline moves up, dropping Larson or whoever is ranked 16th out.

“I know we are throwing a wrench at a lot of peoples’ brackets for the Chase,” Buescher said. “It is going to be a pretty wild ride to the end.”

That another wrench could be thrown Sunday is not an unrealistic scenario.

Just one of two road courses on the Sprint Cup schedule, Watkins Glen evens the playing field somewhat between the haves and have-nots. Drivers with teams lacking the resources necessary to compete consistently on ovals have a platform in the 2.45-mile track to showcase their skills. And if those deficiencies can be overcome and if all goes right, a victory becomes a possibility.

Recently Juan Pablo Montoya (2010), Marcos Ambrose (2011, ‘12) and AJ Allmendinger (2014) all used their road racing expertise to win on the Upstate New York track. While Montoya jumped back to IndyCar and Ambrose returned to his native Australia to race V8 Supercars, Allmendinger is competing on Sunday.

The driver for single-car JTD Daugherty Racing has had a frustrating summer stretch filled with parts failures and crashes. Thus similar to the situation he found himself two years ago, Allmendinger needs a Watkins Glen win to punch his Chase ticket.

“I don’t care what weekend it is, I’m always going to put the most pressure on myself, but in the end it’s just another race,” Allmendinger said. “All I can do is go out there and drive my butt off. As a race team all we can do is go work the hardest that we can, try to make no mistakes or minimize our mistakes.

“If we are meant to win, then we go win. If not, I’ve lost plenty of races that you just move on to the next one.”

Further unpredictability comes in the form of a tire compound that has shown little to no wear through practice and qualifying. Watkins Glen just completed a repave and as it is wont to do on new surfaces, Goodyear brought a tire emphasizing durability over falloff.

The wear was so diminished, in practice drivers 10-to-15 laps into a run were able to match and often exceed their lap times posted when they initially took to the course. The expectation is race teams will frequently forego taking fresh tires, electing for fuel-only in many instances, attempting to gain valuable track position.

“It’s going to be a strange race,” Allmendinger said. “The tires aren’t wearing out. The track is going to keep rubbering up. It’s hard to say I’m not really sure what to expect.”

This opens the box for crew chiefs to employ various gambits, just as Buescher’s crew chief Bob Osbourne used the weather to his advantage at Pocono. Will a desperate driver/team needing a win employ some sort of outside-the-box strategy on Sunday? That’s an almost certainty. The stakes are too high not to try something bold.

“I expect it to be hard to pass,” Chase Elliott said. “It’s really, really fast and I do think if you get out front, it’s going to be a major advantage -- as it is any weekend.”

Cheez-It 355 starting lineup