Not only does WGI produce some of the most exciting races and memorable finishes on the NASCAR schedule, but this year, it also serves as the penultimate race to a regular season that has seen 15 different winners. Five of those winners had never won before the 2022 season.

Even beyond its playoff importance, there's another reason why this race will be historic. Seven different countries will be represented, the most ever in a single NASCAR Cup Series race.

The 2010 Cup race at Sonoma and the 2013 Cup race at Watkins Glen come close, with six nations represented. Additionally, only seven times in the 70+ year history of the sport has an international driver taken the checkered flag in the Cup Series.

This weekend's grid will be made up of some very prominent international drivers, with very successful careers. Of course, there's full-time NASCAR driver and native of Monterrey, Mexico, Daniel Suarez. The former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion became the first Mexican-born driver to ever win a Cup Series race earlier this year at Sonoma Raceway

But then there's Kimi Raikkonen, 2007 Formula 1 World Champion and winner of 21 races over his remarkable 20-year career. In his highly anticipated Cup Series debut, the Finnish driver will pilot the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet as a teammate to both Suarez and Ross Chastain, who have combined to win two of the four road course races run so far this year. He has two previous NASCAR starts, one each in the Truck and Xfinity Series back in 2011. He'll certainly be one to watch, but the average NASCAR fan may take issue with him being called the 'Iceman' as it's also the nickname of NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte

Like Raikkonen, Mike Rockenfeller will be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut. The veteran German racer is best known for his overall victory as an Audi driver in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as capturing the 2013 DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) title. He will be behind the wheel of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend, and is one I believe might just be the best-performing driver out of this group on Sunday

Team Hezeberg is a fairly new team at the Cup level, but they are no strangers to fielding international drivers. Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made his Daytona 500 debut with the team in February, driving the No. 27 Ford Mustang. Since then, they have run Dutchman and 2x NASCAR Euro Series champion Loris Hezemans in every road course race

Team Hezeberg recently entered a second car for the first time at the Indianapolis Road Course, with Russian driver Daniil Kvyat behind the wheel of the No. 26 Toyota Camry. They will do so again at Watkins Glen, where Kvyat hopes to improve upon Indy where he failed to finish the race due to mechanical issues. The ex-F1 driver and Red Bull prospect started over 100 races, scoring three podiums during his career there

The list continues with UK racing driver Kyle Tilley, who is listed as the driver of the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford Mustang. Of the part-timers on this list, he is the most experienced NASCAR driver of them all, with just four Cup starts over the last two years. The sports car driver has a class victory in the 2021 Rolex 24 at Daytona, and is part of the 2021 title-winning Asian Le Mans Series team in the LMP2-Am classThe 33 American drivers on the entry list bumps the list up to seven. It may not seem that impressive in comparison to the current F1 grid or the average IndyCar field, but it's still an important milestone for NASCAR as they continue to work towards expanding their audience.

With a shot at the playoffs on the line and all these drivers of varying racing backgrounds, Sunday is sure to be another Watkins Glen race that we won't soon forget.

Jeff Gordon stepped away from NASCAR full-time after 2015, and retired from racing entirely after winning the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Most assumed he would never drive competitively again — it seemed like he was more intent on competing against other teams in an executive role. Since retirement, the winningest driver of NASCAR’s modern era has been the Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsport, the team where he spent his entire Cup Series career. But that doesn’t mean he can’t get a few more laps in.

Jeff Gordon is coming out of retirement for one weekend only. The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion will be making a one-off appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands. Gordon will be racing in the IMSA-sanctioned one-make Porsche 911 GT3 Cup series when it visits Indianapolis Motor Speedway between September 2nd and 4th. The native Hoosier isn’t a stranger to success at the Speedway with a record five wins at the Brickyard 400.

Jeff Gordon said in a press release

Yes, Gordon will also be reuniting with long-term crew chief Ray Evernham for the first time since 1999. Gordon won three of his four Cup championships with Evernham atop the pit box. The duo, enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, will have to contend with a field of 30 other drivers on Indianapolis’ 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.

It should be noted that Gordon wasn’t a pushover when it came to making both left- and right-hand turns: Nine of Gordon’s 93 Cup Series race wins came on road courses, still the series record for road-course victories. And yes, his 911 GT3 Cup car will wear the No. 24.

This year's hotly anticipated 24 Hours of Le Mans will be remembered for two things. At the front, four new factory entries debuting in the same season mean that the hundredth anniversary race promises its most competitive field ever. Just behind them, though, is the other thing that makes this year's race special: the Automobile Club l'Ouest let NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports bring a modified version of one of their Camaro stock cars to run the whole race.

This entry, the latest in the Garage56 program that has previously given this race a Deltawing and a Nissan that is for legal purposes explicitly not to be called a Deltawing, is exactly what you are thinking. That is a stock car, built to the Next Gen specs raced on a weekly basis in NASCAR since last year, with modifications necessary for it to run competitive laps and survive 24 hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe. It is no surprise that the resulting car looks and sounds ferocious, but you may be surprised to learn just how fast it actually is.

After months of installing and testing major upgrades, the Garage56 Camaro is more than just quick enough to keep up with the GT2-spec cars running in GTE-Am. Through one day of testing, the car's quickest time of 3:53.761 is more than two seconds faster than any time set by a car built to the race's standard GT regulations.

Although testing times are not necessarily representative of final race pace, that specific number is so far ahead of the GTE-Am field that it actually lands on something significant. In a lap with traffic not run for the fastest possible number, the Camaro put down a time quick enough for fourth in GTE-Am during last year's practice-qualifying sessions. Project a typical increase in pace over a race weekend onto the team and, suddenly, the Camaro should be fighting to outqualify every GT car in the race.

As the car is unclassified, beating all of the GT cars will not represent an actual victory of any sort. It is a very impressive bragging right, though, and one GM, NASCAR, and Hendrick Motorsports are surely squarely aiming to achieve.

No matter how fast the car actually is, though, the most memorable thing about the Garage56 stock car is how it looks on track next to the rest of the 24 Hours of Le Mans grid. Next to a GT car, it is brutish and simple. Next to a top-level prototype like the Ferrari 499 P, it appears to be from a different world entirely. On Saturday, we get to see how a NASCAR team's full effort to field the best possible car at Le Mans squares up against both in 24 hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Ram announced Sunday that its brand will return to NASCAR competition, scheduling a Craftsman Truck Series campaign beginning in 2026.

The move came accompanied by a marketing splash before Sunday’s Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway. The choice of venue was intentional, marking the anticipated end of its 13-year absence in the backyard of Chevrolet and Ford — two fellow Detroit-area marques and current NASCAR manufacturers.

That blitz — billed as “Ram-Demption” — included the public debut of a Ram 1500 concept race truck, wearing a livery in Gloss Black and Molten Red. Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis drove the truck during a recent promotional shoot at Darlington Raceway, and he hinted that the brand’s NASCAR comeback foreshadowed its intent to eventually return to Cup Series competition with another manufacturer under the global Stellantis banner.

“We’ll be on track in Daytona in eight months,” Kuniskis said during a midweek press briefing, “and the way we’re going to do it is unlike anyone else.”

Ram will become the first new OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in NASCAR’s national-series ranks since Toyota brought its Tundra model to the track in 2004. John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, indicated that the process for Ram’s return gained momentum at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.

“I know that this is something that we have been talking about for a long time, and it’s something that we don’t get to do very often,” Probst said. “I think the last time we did this was over 20 years ago when Toyota entered our sport, so this is something that is a big moment for our entire sport and our existing competitors, potential new competitors, our OEMs.”

The news is part of what’s been a busy week for Ram, which announced Thursday that the classic 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 would return to its production lineup. Kuniskis acknowledged the company had erred in dropping the Hemi powerplant — “Ram screwed up when we dropped the Hemi. We own it and we fixed it,” he said — and that customer feedback was key to bringing it back. The engine returns with a new “Symbol of Protest” badge — a ram’s head emerging from a V-8 block — to the revived branding, and the company’s NASCAR return is the next phase of its focus on automotive muscle.

Kuniskis said Ram would ideally have at least four trucks on the grid for next year’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway. But he added that he’s in need of one or more team partnerships to bring those efforts to life.

“We’re looking for a date to the prom right now,” Kuniskis said. “So how am I going to get to Cup? That’s going to depend on how I get to Truck. So however we get to Truck is going to obviously weigh heavily on ‘do I have a path to Cup?’ Our intention is not to do a one-hit wonder and go to Truck and not to Cup. That’s not our plan.”

Ram spun off as a separate brand from Dodge in 2010. Dodge last competed with factory support in NASCAR’s Cup Series in 2012. That run concluded with Brad Keselowski claiming the Cup championship for Team Penske that year in a Dodge Charger. Dodge Ram celebrated three manufacturer titles in the Craftsman Truck Series (2001, 2003-04) during its first stint, which ended after the 2013 campaign. Bobby Hamilton (2004) and Ted Musgrave (2005) drove Dodge Rams in their championship campaigns.

Probst did not speculate when asked about Ram’s prospects for aligning with an existing Truck Series organization, but he said he imagined the pursuit of a team partnership would be spirited.

“I want him to have a date that he wants to have his picture taken with,” Probst said, riffing on Kuniskis’ prom analogy. “That is completely a Ram competition-related thing. We know they are wanting to be very competitive, so I would anticipate them being pretty aggressive in getting a good team lined up in their camp to go run their banner.”

Probst said the runway for any prospective automakers to launch a Cup Series venture would be based on an 18-month timetable to allow for proper engine development and the submission of a competition-ready body. As for any other manufacturers who might be willing to follow Ram’s lead, Probst said those prospects were encouraging.

“I don’t want to jinx ourselves, but I would say that we are very close with one other,” Probst said. “Can’t speak for them. Obviously, it’s their decision to make. We would love for them to decide to come into NASCAR, and even with that, there’s one or two others that we’re a little bit earlier in the discussions, but also looking pretty positive. But we all know that an OEM deciding to come into NASCAR, it’s a big commitment for them. It’s not something that they take lightly. It requires a lot of research and approval at the highest levels. We’re confident right now. We like the position we’re in, and think that we’re a pretty good investment for an OEM.”

NASCAR and its stakeholders know there is a chance the sport will have to look different in the future if new manufacturers are going to join the fold.

The change will come from one of racing’s biggest variables – under the hood.

Tyler Gibbs, the president of Toyota Racing Development, explained as much during Race Industry Week. Gibbs acknowledged that the short answer is yes: the current manufacturers would be open to switching to something new because there is an understanding of relevance in the engine space. In fact, it’s an area that a manufacturer who is only rumored to potentially one day field an entry is already focused on.

“I think NASCAR and the existing OEMs in NASCAR all understand that in order for new OEMs to come in, no one is going to make a pushrod cast iron V8 block,” Gibbs said. “It’s just not something they are going to do. It doesn’t fit into their line-up; it doesn’t fit into their relevancy formula. So, it’s unlikely that’s going to be something that new OEMs would do. So, if we want new OEMs in the sport, we probably have to have some mechanism that allows for that to happen.”

Toyota was the most recent manufacturer to join the Cup Series garage in 2007. There has been constant speculation since about who could be next, and NASCAR has only gone so far as to acknowledge having conversations over the years with different interested parties.

V8 engines have long been in competition. But across the motorsports landscape, a V6 turbo engine has been far more prominent.

Honda is one manufacturer that has admitted that it is evaluating joining the NASCAR fold. Kelvin Fu, the vice president of Honda Racing Corporation USA, remains tight-lipped on any potential plans. All racing series are under consideration, he says, and the decision will come down to what fits a return on value, relevancy, and tracking trends that tie into what they are selling. But Fu is also well aware of the engine situation in NASCAR.

“We do have two very well-developed V6 twin turbos, but it goes back to the relevance of the series,” Fu said during Race Industry Week. “The OEMs are always looking for what’s relevant to our story, right? What’s relevant to our products going into the future? But the series also has to look at what’s relevant to our fan base, and how does that work out? And the fans are always looking for excitement and noise and great, close racing. Those three things all have to fit together so it works.

“So, whether our opinion of what we want to go in any series, it’s a discussion we’ll have to have with any series we go into. Honda makes one V8, and it’s for a marine engine. If NASCAR is on the table, it’s a discussion we’ll have with them on what makes the most sense.”

It is not a new conversation, but one that will continue to be had in the push for a new manufacturer. For example, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, admitted on a 2024 episode of "The Dale Jr. Download" podcast that NASCAR is aware of what a new manufacturer is looking for. And it’s given them plenty to figure out going forward.

“We have great partners in Chevy and Ford and Toyota, and they’ve been with us forever,” Sawyer said. “But we need a platform that will invite some new OEMs to come and participate. They love the Next Gen car. The one thing they’re not going to do is they are not going to build a V8 pushrod engine. So, we have to continue to develop and look at different platforms and options that will be inviting to those OEMs.”

Earnhardt followed up by clarifying that a new manufacturer will not join the sport if a pushrod V8 engine is still being used.

“In the conversations that our folks – John Probst and [Steve O’Donnell] and that group – have had that’s a deal-breaker right there,” Sawyer said. “Where when Toyota came in, they actually didn’t have that engine and developed it and built it for the trucks. So, kudos to them; that’s just not the world we live in today.”

And then Earnhardt asked what kind of motor it would need to be. Sawyer mentioned turbocharged.

“We’ve got to be prepared from the sanctioning body, very similar to our sister company in IMSA, in how does balancing the performance work?” Sawyer said. “For 75 plus years, we’ve raced the same types of engines: naturally aspirated, carburetors, cubic inches … So from an officiating standpoint that’s been fairly easy to police.

“When you venture into the balance of performance and torque sensors and horsepower and torque at the rear tire that’s a different way to police your sport. But we’re going to have to figure out how that looks to be able to, again, be able to get new OEMs to come in.”