Kyle Larson held off AJ Allmendinger for five intense laps to score his second win of the weekend at Watkins Glens Sunday.
Sadly, that win came at the expense of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott who started from the pole. Elliott led a race high 29 laps and clinched NASCAR’s Regular Season title early in the race. He was leading on the final restart, set up by the race’s fifth and final caution for Loris Hezemans getting into the gravel, came with five laps to go, with Larson second.
Elliott was on the outside, Larson on the inside but heading into Turn 1, Larson’s Chevy locked up slid up the track and forced Elliott’s Chevy deep into the overrun of the turn. Larson emerged with the lead; Elliott fell into fifth.
“Yeah, and I knew that was kind of my only opportunity,” Larson said. “I’m not proud of it. But being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets to late in the race, it’s definitely risky. “
Allmendinger took over second and hounded Larson over the final laps. Larson would not be denied however and for the second day in a row he held off Allmendinger and won by .882 of a second.
In Saturday’s Xfinity race, Larson was running third in the closing laps when the top two runners, Ty Gibbs and Hendrick driver William Byron got together and took each other out. Like Sunday, Larson had to hold off Allmendinger for the win.
“I knew everybody’s aggression was going to be higher as each restart went on,” Larson said. “I didn’t want to put myself in that position again to get passed by AJ (Allmendinger) or Joey (Logano), who were really aggressive behind me.
“Yeah, it’s just part of racing at road courses, especially this year it seems like. Again, not proud of it, but we did what we had to do.”
Joey Logano was third, while Elliott had to settle for 4th. After talking with team owner Rick Hendrick on pit road after the race, Elliott was diplomatic.
“Just a huge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team,” he said. “Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win. Appreciate Kelley Blue Book for being on our car this weekend.”
As for the discussion with his team owner:
“Just congratulated him,” Elliott said. “Like I said, always good to see HMS win. The boss deserves all the wins, all the great things that go on with this company. Proud of that. Looking forward to next week.”
Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five.
The start of the race was delayed first by lightning then by rains too heavy to race in, for just over two hours. The race started under wet conditions with the field on rain tires, but shortly after the rains stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun came out. A quickly drying track led to teams changing pit strategy to include changing to slicks, then pitting just before the end of Stage 1. Chase Briscoe won the first Stage while Larson and Elliott, among those opting for a two-stop strategy, finishing outside the top 10.
Joey Logano won Stage 2 and led the second most laps on the day, 15. The only cautions for incidents came in the final stage and started shortly after the restart for the final stage on lap 44. On lap 46, Ross Chastain got into Austin Dillion in the bus stop, sending Dillion spinning. F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, who had been running as high as eighth, was caught on the inside and just behind Chastain. Raikkonen’s Chevy was sent over the curbing, and punted up and across the track, with the car ending up nose first into the outside Armco barrier and putting him out of the race.
The final two cautions involved Joey Hand who ran as high as fifth at one point and ended up in the outside barrier at Turn 1, and the final caution for Kvyat getting stuck in the gravel.
Michael McDowell, who led 14 laps, was sixth; Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.
Despite the late start, NASCAR was able to complete the entire race prior to darkness settling in. In the race for the final spot in NASCAR’s Playoffs, Martin Truex Jr. finished 23rd, while Ryan Blaney was just behind him in 24th. Blaney still leads Truex for the 16th and final spot with one race to go in the Regular season next week at Daytona International Speedway.
Blaney holds a 25 point advantage over Truex and would get the final spot should no new winner emerge next week. Blaney won last year’s final regular season race at Daytona.
Sunday was Larson first win in the Cup series stretching back to the second race of the season. He last won at Fontana in February. Of course, after the final restart Sunday, Larson might not have a pleasant Monday.
“We have a competition meeting tomorrow,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, I think if I was in his shoes, I would understand the risk that I’m taking choosing left lane also. Again, like I said, I’m not proud of it, but it’s what I felt like I had to do to get the win.”
NASCAR Cup Series Race Results Go Bowling at The Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
Sunday, August 21, 2022
1. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 90.
2. (6) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 90.
3. (20) Joey Logano, Ford, 90.
4. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 90.
5. (9) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 90.
6. (3) Michael McDowell, Ford, 90.
7. (5) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 90.
8. (38) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 90.
9. (7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 90.
10. (31) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 90.
11. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 90.
12. (24) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 90.
13. (8) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 90.
14. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 90.
15. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 90.
16. (28) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.
17. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.
18. (13) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 90.
19. (15) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 90.
20. (22) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90.
21. (18) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 90.
22. (4) William Byron, Chevrolet, 90.
23. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 90.
24. (26) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 90.
25. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 90.
26. (16) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 90.
27. (32) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 90.
28. (30) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 90.
29. (35) Aric Almirola, Ford, 90.
30. (33) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 90.
31. (17) Joey Hand, Ford, 90.
32. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 89.
33. (34) Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 89.
34. (39) Cody Ware, Ford, 88.
35. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Suspension, 83.
36. (36) Daniil Kvyat, Toyota, 58.
37. (27) Kimi Raikkonen, Chevrolet, Accident, 44.
38. (19) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, Rear End, 28.
39. (37) Kyle Tilley, Ford, Steering, 15.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 95.962 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 17 Mins, 52 Secs. Margin of Victory: .882 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 11 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Elliott 1-3;M. McDowell 4-11;T. Reddick 12-13;C. Elliott 14-15;C. Briscoe 16-22;T. Gilliland # 23-27;J. Logano 28-42;M. McDowell 43-48;C. Elliott 49-58;C. Custer 59-65;A. Dillon 66-71;C. Elliott 72-85;K. Larson 86-90.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chase Elliott 4 times for 29 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 15 laps; Michael McDowell 2 times for 14 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 7 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 7 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 6 laps; Todd Gilliland # 1 time for 5 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 5 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 14,8,99,38,1,22,42,34,18,16
Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,18,34,9,42,15,17,5,41,20
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.