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NASCAR

Chase Elliott tops Martin Truex Jr. at Watkins Glen to score first NASCAR Cup win

Andrew Legare
Elmira Star-Gazette

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Forget the “Big Three” for one weekend at least. Chase Elliott finally has the big one.

Chase Elliott celebrates after winning the Go Bowling at The Glen, Sunday at Watkins Glen International.

Elliott, the 22-year-old son of racing legend Bill Elliott, led the final 34 laps of Sunday afternoon’s Go Bowling at The Glen on the road course at Watkins Glen International for the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career after eight runner-up finishes.

“Holy cow, what a thrill,” Chase Elliott said. “Golly, I don’t know what to say. Just so thrilled, so emotional, so much relief. Working on three years and hadn’t won one. I came here with a great opportunity today and was I was able to get it done.”

The 90-lap race came down to a two-driver battle between reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. and Elliott over the final 20 laps.

With a lap and a half left, Truex missed the exit of the Inner Loop and Elliott gained some breathing room. Elliott gave most of his lead right back at the start of the final lap when he started to wheel-hop in Turn 1. He recovered in time to maintain the lead before winning by 7.5 seconds when Truex ran out of fuel.

“I started to wheel-hop and I knocked it out of ear to not spin out,” Elliott said. “Luckily I had a big enough gap where he couldn’t get me. What a day.”

Truex, who was seeking a third consecutive road-course victory after winning at Sonoma Raceway in June, was able to limp home to second place.

“He missed Turn 1 on the final lap, but I missed the Inner Loop on the final lap and lost five car lengths to him, so when he made that mistake in (Turn) 1, I was too far back to capitalize,” Truex said. “We ran out of gas anyway coming off of Turn 5 that last lap, so it was really all a moot point. He was going to win regardless.”

Crew chief Alan Gustafson, who celebrated his 43rd birthday Sunday, said he talked to Elliott before the race about saving fuel at any chance. It turned out they had just enough to make it to the checkered flag and Elliott said he was happy his victory came down to racing instead of fuel mileage.

“Martin kind of screwed our plan up, so we didn’t get to save much gas, and he put a lot of pressure on us,” Gustafson said.

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SATURDAY:Joey Logano wins Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen

Kyle Busch held the lead until a mishap during a pit stop put only eight gallons of fuel into his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota during a pit stop severely damaged his hopes. He had to come back into the pits a lap later to get a full tank.

"Sounds familiar," said Busch, a two-time winner of the race. "Every year we come here, we have a fast car and fail to execute, whether that's just called bad luck or whatever. Last year we had a lug nut get stuck in the caliper. This year we had fueling problems. It never eases to amaze me."

Busch, who had to come back in a lap later to get a full tank, managed to fight his way from 33rd to third.

"It was a heck of a lot harder than it should have been," he said of his day. "But that was the predicament we were put in, and we had to go to work. I certainly gave Joe his money's worthy today."

Elliott, making the 99th start of his Cup career, ended up running out of fuel himself on the celebration lap. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson gave Elliott a push back around. Elliott said he had been planning to do a burnout in front of his father when he ran out of fuel.

“Probably one of the many cool things about today was Jimmie Johnson pushed me back to the front straightaway,” Elliott said. “He’s been a hero of mine for a long time and he’s been a big supporter of mine, a guy I leaned on a lot through some of those hard days.”

The victory ended a streak of 37 consecutive races without a Cup win for Hendrick Motorsports, which collected its 250th win in the premier series.

Elliott’s win also came one day after it was announced his dad will make a one-off return to racing at the road course at Wisconsin’s Road America on Aug. 25. Bill Elliott, 62, hasn’t raced in more than six years after earning 44 career victories.

Like his son, Bill Elliott’s first career Cup victory came on a road course, during the final race of the 1983 season at Riverside (Calif.). Bill Elliott served as a spotter for Chase in Sunday’s race and gave him a hug in victory lane.

“I tried not to get any emotion at all there the last 20 laps or so. Just kind of watch hard and see what people were doing,” Bill Elliott said.

"I'm proud of him, proud of the team. They've done a good job. They've worked really hard the last two and a half years to put this together and (Rick) Hendrick has done a lot for this organization and done a lot for racing. Proud to see him get back from almost a year ago when Kasey (Kahne) won at Indy."

Coming into the weekend, the “Big Three” of Busch, Truex and Kevin Harvick had combined to capture 16 of 21 Cup races this season, with Busch and Harvick having won six times each.

Truex won the race's first stage (laps 1-20). Elliott was the winner of the second stage (21-40), eliciting a loud roar from the crowd.

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen," Elliott said of the response.

The win also will send Elliott into the 16-driver field for the 10-race playoffs. He is 11th overall in points. Busch remained atop the standings with 934 points, including 35 playoff points. Harvick, who took 10th Sunday, is second at 864 (33) and Truex is third with 813 (27).

Daniel Suarez finished fourth, Erik Jones was fifth and Kyle Larson sixth.

Joey Logano had the shortest day of any driver after winning the Xfinity Series race Saturday at the track. Logano ended up in the wall on the second lap after making contact with Kyle Larson. Once the team took the car into the garage, Logano's day was over.

GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN RESULTS

Sunday at the 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International (starting position in parentheses):

1. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 90.

2. (4) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 90.

3. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 90.

4. (21) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 90.

5. (9) Erik Jones, Toyota, 90.

6. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 90.

7. (14) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 90.

8. (16) William Byron, Chevrolet, 90.

9. (36) Kurt Busch, Ford, 90.

10. (15) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 90.

11. (18) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 90.

12. (11) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 90.

13. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90.

14. (22) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 90.

15. (8) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 90.

16. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 90.

17. (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 90.

18. (12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 90.

19. (19) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 90.

20. (20) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 90.

21. (10) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 90.

22. (7) Aric Almirola, Ford, 90.

23. (30) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.

24. (27) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 90.

25. (29) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 89.

26. (25) David Ragan, Ford, 89.

27. (24) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 89.

28. (37) Paul Menard, Ford, 89.

29. (26) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 89.

30. (13) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 89.

31. (35) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 88.

32. (32) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Suspension, 77.

33. (28) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 75.

34. (31) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 73.

35. (34) Spencer Gallagher, Toyota, 73.

36. (33) Josh Bilicki, Ford, Electrical, 69.

37. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 1.

–––

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.928 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 13 minutes, 44 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 7.560 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 11 laps.

Lead Changes: 9 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 1; Kyle Busch 2-17; M. Truex Jr. 18-21; J. Johnson 22; Kyle Busch 23-26; C. Elliott 27-44; Kyle Busch 45-54; D. Hamlin 55; Kyle Busch 56; C. Elliott 57-90.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Elliott 2 times for 52 laps; Kyle Busch 4 times for 31 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 4 laps; D. Hamlin 2 times for 2 laps; J. Johnson 1 time for 1 lap.

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