Nascar Race Today

Clint Bowyer is among the favorites to win Sunday at Watkins Glen. (Photo: Sam Sharpe, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights With five-time Glen winner Tony Stewart injured, which drivers might win on Sunday? Marcos Ambrose has won two consecutive Glen races and starts on the pole Juan Pablo Montoya, Clint Bowyer among other favorites

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Tony Stewart has won five of the past 11 races at Watkins Glen and would have been one of the favorites again for Sunday's Cheez-It 355.

But Stewart is expected to spend the day in a North Carolina hospital -- he's recovering from two surgeries to mend a broken right leg -- instead of racing behind the wheel of his No. 14 Chevrolet, removing a top contender from the race.

Without Stewart, who are the drivers most likely to pick up a win at Watkins Glen? Here's a look at five who could get it done:

1. Marcos Ambrose

A no-brainer. Ambrose has won the last two Watkins Glen races and is the clear favorite again. He took the pole position on Saturday and also has three Nationwide Series wins at the Glen. Ambrose's background racing V8 Supercars in Australia gave him skills that translate much better to NASCAR's full-bodied stock cars than drivers with open-wheel backgrounds who try to make the jump.

"I think we've got one of the best race cars out there," Ambrose said after winning the pole. "We've got (qualifying) out of the way and we can really focus now on getting our car ready for the race. We've got a real chance to go three in a row here."

Only two other drivers have won three consecutive Glen races: Mark Martin (1993-95) and Jeff Gordon (1997-99).

2. Juan Pablo Montoya

The ex-Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 champ has won at both of NASCAR's road courses - the Glen and Sonoma - and is certainly capable of doing it again. For a few years when Montoya first arrived in NASCAR, he was in the Ambrose-like position of being considered the favorite for every road race.

Ambrose has taken the primary spotlight, but Montoya remains a serious threat.

"I have a lot of road course experience," Montoya said. "I did that all my life, so that's like second nature to me. We go testing anywhere - tracks that I haven't been in years - and within five laps, I'm on pace, and it's easy."

3. Kurt Busch

Though Busch has two Watkins Glen wins in the Nationwide Series, his aggressive style has hurt him in the past when it comes to longer races. Busch noticed his brakes kept getting glazed over and losing their effectiveness in Cup races at the Glen, but a recent test may help fix that problem.

"It really opened my eyes as to why this road course is so much different than most road courses," he said. "There's such high-speed braking zones and a good quantity of them that burns up the front brakes."

With that in mind, Busch now says he's "the best that I've ever been prepared coming into Watkins Glen." He qualified 13 ^th for Sunday's race.

WATCH: Bowyer talks about his success at road courses 4. Clint Bowyer

Michael Waltrip Racing's cars have been fantastic at road courses, winning the last two Sonoma races and also running well at the Glen.

Bowyer, who finished fourth here last year, has yet to finish outside the top five at a road course in three starts since joining MWR. He won last year's race at Sonoma, a surprise since the Kansas native said "We don't even have curved roads in Kansas!"

"These road courses have become something I look forward to," Bowyer said after qualifying second on Saturday. "I never would've thought I'd ever say that, but we're certainly having fun."

5. A.J. Allmendinger

Allmendinger, driving JTG Daugherty Racing's No. 47 car this week, said his team will be "somebody to be reckoned with" if it keeps making improvements on the car after qualifying fourth.

The team tested at Watkins Glen, which will mark Allmendinger's first road race since winning a Nationwide Series event in June at Wisconsin's Road America. Allmendinger had five wins in the Champ Car World Series, which were all on street/road circuits.

But Allmendinger cautioned there are a lot more than five drivers who are capable of winning Sunday.

"That's what makes the Sprint Cup Series so hard, especially these road course races," he said. "You could usually pick out a handful of guys and say, 'OK, these are the guys to worry about,' but you can't even do that anymore. I think there will be a legit 10, 15 guys that can win this race."

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck