Larson Wins at The Glen, Elliott Rallies for Second

After a two-week break due to the Olympics, the NASCAR Cup Series returned the 7-turn road course of Watkins Glen. This was the first race at the track in over 2 years as the series was not allow to visit due to COVID restrictions in 2020. Prior to the green flag, road-course ace, Chase Elliott, was sent to the rear of the field for failing pre-race inspection multiple times due to modifications of the rear window air deflector.

LAP 1: The green flag waved for the Penske teammates of Joey Logano in the #22 and Brad Keselowski in the #2, who made up the first row. Keselowski beat Logano to the lead heading into Turn 1, though Logano stayed in a close second-place.

CAUTION – LAP 10: As the leaders came into the final turn, Brad Keselowski got loose and spun into the run-off area. Logano went past to take the lead while Keselowski fell to 6th place. The yellow flag waved for the competition caution so teams could check tire wear and make adjustments, but very few cars took the opportunity with only Keselowski and a handful of back markers coming down pit road.

STAGE 1 END – LAP 20: Joey Logano held off a charging Kyle Larson to claim the stage victory. Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron completed the Top 5 at the end of the segment. A mixed pit-strategy saw Martin Truex Jr in the #19 Toyota take the lead and hold it on the restart.

CAUTION – LAP 24: The caution came out for the #51 of James Davison, who stopped on track in Turn 7. Truex continued to lead after the restart.

LAP 31: Having worked his way up to 13th place, Chase Elliott had to make an unscheduled pitstop for flat-spotted tires after sliding in Turn 1. This put Elliott at the back of the field once again.

STAGE 2 END – LAP 40: Martin Truex Jr held onto the lead for the entirety of the stage to claim victory and pick-up a playoff point. Behind him, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top 5. The field pitted during the stage break and Truex remained in the first position.

LAP 65: Following the final round of green-flag pitstops, Kyle Larson in the #5 Chevrolet cycled through to the lead, having made a slightly quicker stop than Truex. Larson had a 3-second gap to Truex and a 10-second gap to Elliott, who had fought his way back up through the field for a second time.

LAP 89: Having passed Truex and cut Larson’s lead down to just over 2-seconds, Elliott found himself behind lapped-traffic and  too far back to catch Larson before the checkered flag.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 90: Kyle Larson crossed the line to claim his 5th win of the 2020 season.

RESULTS:

1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Kyle Busch
5. Danny Hamlin
6. William Byron
7. Christopher Bell
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Tyler Reddick
11. Matt DiBenedetto
12. Ross Chastain
13. Kurt Busch
14. Ryan Blaney
15. Austin Dillon
16. Aric Almirola
17. Chris Buescher
18. Cole Custer
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
20. Alex Bowman
21. Michael McDowell
22. Joey Logano
23. Bubba Wallace
24. Corey Lajoie
25. Ryan Newman
26. Anthony Alfredo
27. Erik Jones
28. Ryan Preece
29. Justin Haley
30. Kyle Tilley
31. Daniel Suarez
32. Quin Houff
33. Josh Bilicki
34. R.C. Enerson
35. Brad Keselowski
36. Garrett Smithley
37. James Davison