Rain has impacted the NASCAR race weekend schedule at Watkins Glen International in more ways than one, most notably with the cancellation of O'Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying on Saturday ahead of Saturday afternoon's Mission 200 at the Glen.
Now it has resulted in the adjustment of the Cup Series schedule as well.
The practice schedule was not directly impacted, with the session getting underway at 1:00 p.m. ET, and each team getting one set of slick tires and one set of rain tires. However, there are no more practice and qualifying groups.
NASCAR axes Watkins Glen group qualifying
Following the 50-minute practice session, the qualifying session, which was scheduled to get underway at 2:15 p.m. ET around the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) Watkins Glen, New York road course, has been cut from 40 minutes to 35 minutes, and instead of two groups being allowed 20 minutes each, it has been reduced to a single 35-minute session for all 38 cars on the entry list.
The plan is for all drivers to run this session on slick tires.
As long as the track is dry by the time practice ends, there will be one qualifying session all cars for 35 minutes on slicks.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 9, 2026
Drivers are still allowed to make as many qualifying attempts as they want to make during those 35 minutes, and the session is still not a single-car session like NASCAR utilizes for oval races.
The results of that 35-minute session are set to determine the full starting lineup for Sunday's 100-lap Go Bowling at the Glen, as there is no second round shootout for the first five rows like there is on superspeedways.
Tomorrow's Go Bowling at the Glen is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Watkins Glen International beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the season's final points race on FS1!
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