By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Post-race review and analysis from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Who Won?
Chase Elliott. No, that’s not a typo. The second-generation driver finally secured his first Cup victory, benefitting from a fueling issue from Kyle Busch and fending off a late challenge from Martin Truex Jr. to claim a debut win in his 99th start.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott. The two drivers that ultimately battled for the win also claimed the day’s stages. Truex secured Stage 1 after Busch pitted from the lead prior to pit road closing, and Elliott snagged Stage 2 to tally his third stage win in the past three races.
Top Stories
Here Comes the Son
Fire up the siren, Dawsonville. The prodigal son has finally taken you to the promise land.
On the same weekend where father Bill Elliott confirmed that he’ll return to NASCAR for a one-off Xfinity Series run with GMS Racing at Road America, son Chase surged to a long-awaited first win of his Cup career.
“What a day,” he said. “Just so thankful for the opportunity to be here and have the chances over and over that I have had more than a couple to win a couple of these things. Hadn’t gone our way for one reason or another. Me messing up, or whatever it was, so the group of guys behind me they deserve to win they were winners when Jeff (Gordon) left and I haven’t been able to give that to them and just proud to do that today.”
The victory came with a sigh of relief for the Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) ace’s dedicated fanbase, and gave his team their 250th win. It also arrived in eerily similar fashion to his father’s first triumph back in 1983.
When the elder Elliott rode into victory lane at Riverside International Speedway– a road course — he did so after finishing second eight times in the preceding 115 starts. Chase’s first win came after 98 failed attempts, including eight second-place finishes.
The timing of the victory put Elliott on pace with fellow young phenom Kyle Larson. The Chip Ganassi Racing ace entered the sport with pomp and circumstance outshined only by multi-generation stars Elliott and Ryan Blaney among the current crop of young talent, particularly after he showed early pace with a second-place run at Auto Club Speedway in 2014.
But that elusive first win proved fleeting. Numerous close calls — Dover International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway among them — all ended just short of victory lane.
Larson finally had his day at Michigan International Speedway in August of his third Cup season, driving off to a victory that proved popular among both fans and fellow competitors. The win came in his 99th-career start.
Elliott suffered from the same career trajectory. He entered the Cup Series with all of the hype in the world, having already won a then-Nationwide Series title in 2014 and numerous other races in NASCAR, ARCA and super late model competition prior to his leap up to the sport’s top level.
The young phenom shot out of the gates with immediate success, earning 10 top-fives in his rookie season with two runner-up runs at Michigan. Talks weren’t about whether or not he’d find victory lane, fans and media simply pondered when it would finally happen.
But that elusive win didn’t come in his rookie year, nor his second. Elliott still ran in contention each week, but a race win proved fleeting. Fans kept on hoping, but by the midway point of 2018 the dominance of the Big Three and struggles of Chevrolet made Elliott’s odds at a win appear slim on a good day.
That all changed today at Watkins Glen. Now Elliott can focus on piling on wins like Larson and challenging for a title.
Elliott’s run continued a recent summer surge that’s seen him lifted from a disappointing regular season into a dark horse playoff contender. Post-race inspection pending, the third-year shoe’s first triumph should propel him into the playoffs with certainty. Thanks to the three stage wins that accompany it, the Georgian will also have at least eight guaranteed playoff points that he didn’t have a month ago.
It’s been a challenging year for Elliott and HMS, but suddenly a playoff run doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.
But enough about that for now. For the next couple days birthday boy Alan Gustafson and the rest of the No. 9 team will celebrate a win three years in the making.
Toyota Challenge
Elliott’s debut triumph came with an extra point of pride – he had to earn it against two drivers from the Big Three.
Toyota’s Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. gave Elliott a stiff challenge in his route to victory, battling with the Chevrolet driver for the top spot early on and keeping within striking distance until the checkered flag flew at the end of Lap 90.
Busch and Elliott battled for the lead through the opening stint, but it was Truex that won the first stage after the top duo each chose to come to pit road before it ended. The decision to stay out dropped Truex back in the pack in Stage 2, and in his place Elliott surged to the stage win.
Elliott led the field to green to start the final stage, but Busch surged past him after he got loose in Turn 1. From there the Nevadan drove off to a small advantage, holding the lead until the race’s final caution flag flew on Lap 55.
During the caution Busch led the field to pit road for what proved to be the final round of pit stops, and his No. 18 team had issues fueling his car. The stop went off quick, but a lack of fuel forced Busch back to pit road for a second stop on the following lap, dropping him to 31st.
“Just pit road mistakes two years in a row,” Busch said afterward. “Not sure what happened. Part failure or something, but not what we needed there to be able to run upfront with the 9 (Chase Elliott) and the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and put pressure on them.”
The incident gave the lead back to Elliott, but Truex was in pursuit. The defending race winner restarted fourth, but quickly rose to second and closed in on Elliott’s No. 9. He would spend the final run to the checkered flag lurking just behind Elliott, waiting for a mistake.
Elliott finally made one on the final lap, sailing up the track in Turn 1 after he admittedly blew the corner. But Truex was too far behind, so Elliott was able to maintain the top spot through the final half of the circuit to secure the victory.
“Just nice to win it straight up and it not be a fuel mileage race,” Elliott said of the run. “You can win these things a lot of different ways, but to actually go out there, run in the top 2 or 3 all day long and race the guy that’s won the past two road races straight up for a victory at the end is very satisfying.
Truex followed in second, leaving the race with another playoff point but without the trophy he desired.
“(Elliott) had the upper hand there at the end,” Truex said. “We were a little faster but hats off to him. He did a great job. He put his car exactly where I needed mine to be. I couldn’t get it and I was sideways. Congrats to him on his first win.”
Busch rebounded with an impressive drive to the finish to slot in behind Truex in third.
“It’s kind of frustrating when you know you come here every year with a vengeance to go out here and win this race and you’re the fastest car and you’re arguably the fastest car or arguably the fastest guy and not able to (execute),” Busch said.
He then tipped his hat to Elliott. “I told everybody pre-race, told everybody yesterday in the media center to look out for the 9 and I was right,” he said. “I wish that we could have raced with him a little bit there. Obviously, congratulations for his first win.”
Playoff Hopes Dashed
Two drivers looking at Watkins Glen an an opportunity to secure a playoff-clinching win both left New York disappointed.
AJ Allmendinger returned to the site of his lone Cup win with the usual combination of hope, stress and anticipation. The 36-year-old had been through a struggle of a season with the underfunded JTG Daugherty Racing, but the equalizer of road-course racing gave promise that he could steal a spot in the postseason field with a victory.
After qualifying eighth, Allmendinge seemed capable of mounting a challenge for the win, but he sustained damage when the field stacked up early and never recovered. He finished 15th – one spot worse than his result last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
“I’m not really sure what happened there,” he said. “I don’t know if the No. 11 and No. 18 were… I just don’t know. I was just kind of in the train of cars there just trying to be patient and they just stopped. I tried to get checked up and just got into the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and it just got the nose.
“Did (a) decent amount of damage and took a lot of the front aero away and the car wasn’t the same, obviously. It just away overall grip more front than rear.”
While Allmendinger was out of the running early, Joe Gibbs Racing shoe Daniel Suarez rose from 21st into fringe contention for his first-career Cup win. One week removed from a runner-up result at Pocono, Suarez returned to the site of his first stage win and best run in 2017 with hopes for a strong day.
The poor qualifying effort forced Suarez to mount a charge to rise into contention, but with the laps winding down he found himself battling with teammate Erik Jones for third. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion was mired too far back at that stage to challenge Elliott and Truex for the win, but a caution flag end ensuing restart would have given him a shooter’s chance.
That caution never came. Suarez got around Jones, but lost a spot to the surging Busch and finished fourth.
Another close call with victory ended with a combination of promise and disappointment. Suarez is showing the proper pace to contend for a victory, but with just four races remaining before the playoffs the Mexican knows his time is running out.
“I don’t know,” Suarez said when asked if a victory could be in the cards. “We have to keep working. We can’t give up. Now we’re heading in the right direction, so we just have to keep working.”
With their latest shot at an upset win dashed, the drivers well behind the playoff bubble will have to hope for a Hail Mary to deliver them a shocking postseason berth. Only four races remain in the regular season – Michigan, Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis.
Other Notes
- Joey Logano was eliminated early after heading to the garage area following a run-in with Allmendinger. NASCAR’s damage rules state that any driver sent to the garage area by crash damage is immediately eliminated from the race, but the No. 22 team were confused by the rule. “I don’t really know what happened in the garage on how the whole repair situation repair is,” Logano said afterward.
- Hidden by Elliott’s surge to victory was another great run from his rookie teammate, William Byron. The 2017 Xfinity Series champion finished eighth, giving him back-to-back top 10s for the first time in his young career.
- More drivers scored stage points on Sunday than in any prior race under the new stage policy. Only Truex tallied points in both stages, meaning 19 different drivers secured stage points overall.
- The Cup debuts of Spencer Gallagher and Josh Bilicki ended with controversy. Bilicki was pulled from the race for failing to maintain minimum speed as his machine’s engine soured, while Gallagher was sent to talk with NASCAR after the race for an alleged incident on pit road.
Bearden Breakdown: Go Bowling at the Glen
By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Post-race review and analysis from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Who Won?
Chase Elliott. No, that’s not a typo. The second-generation driver finally secured his first Cup victory, benefitting from a fueling issue from Kyle Busch and fending off a late challenge from Martin Truex Jr. to claim a debut win in his 99th start.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott. The two drivers that ultimately battled for the win also claimed the day’s stages. Truex secured Stage 1 after Busch pitted from the lead prior to pit road closing, and Elliott snagged Stage 2 to tally his third stage win in the past three races.
Top Stories
Here Comes the Son
Fire up the siren, Dawsonville. The prodigal son has finally taken you to the promise land.
On the same weekend where father Bill Elliott confirmed that he’ll return to NASCAR for a one-off Xfinity Series run with GMS Racing at Road America, son Chase surged to a long-awaited first win of his Cup career.
“What a day,” he said. “Just so thankful for the opportunity to be here and have the chances over and over that I have had more than a couple to win a couple of these things. Hadn’t gone our way for one reason or another. Me messing up, or whatever it was, so the group of guys behind me they deserve to win they were winners when Jeff (Gordon) left and I haven’t been able to give that to them and just proud to do that today.”
The victory came with a sigh of relief for the Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) ace’s dedicated fanbase, and gave his team their 250th win. It also arrived in eerily similar fashion to his father’s first triumph back in 1983.
When the elder Elliott rode into victory lane at Riverside International Speedway– a road course — he did so after finishing second eight times in the preceding 115 starts. Chase’s first win came after 98 failed attempts, including eight second-place finishes.
The timing of the victory put Elliott on pace with fellow young phenom Kyle Larson. The Chip Ganassi Racing ace entered the sport with pomp and circumstance outshined only by multi-generation stars Elliott and Ryan Blaney among the current crop of young talent, particularly after he showed early pace with a second-place run at Auto Club Speedway in 2014.
But that elusive first win proved fleeting. Numerous close calls — Dover International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway among them — all ended just short of victory lane.
Larson finally had his day at Michigan International Speedway in August of his third Cup season, driving off to a victory that proved popular among both fans and fellow competitors. The win came in his 99th-career start.
Elliott suffered from the same career trajectory. He entered the Cup Series with all of the hype in the world, having already won a then-Nationwide Series title in 2014 and numerous other races in NASCAR, ARCA and super late model competition prior to his leap up to the sport’s top level.
The young phenom shot out of the gates with immediate success, earning 10 top-fives in his rookie season with two runner-up runs at Michigan. Talks weren’t about whether or not he’d find victory lane, fans and media simply pondered when it would finally happen.
But that elusive win didn’t come in his rookie year, nor his second. Elliott still ran in contention each week, but a race win proved fleeting. Fans kept on hoping, but by the midway point of 2018 the dominance of the Big Three and struggles of Chevrolet made Elliott’s odds at a win appear slim on a good day.
That all changed today at Watkins Glen. Now Elliott can focus on piling on wins like Larson and challenging for a title.
Elliott’s run continued a recent summer surge that’s seen him lifted from a disappointing regular season into a dark horse playoff contender. Post-race inspection pending, the third-year shoe’s first triumph should propel him into the playoffs with certainty. Thanks to the three stage wins that accompany it, the Georgian will also have at least eight guaranteed playoff points that he didn’t have a month ago.
It’s been a challenging year for Elliott and HMS, but suddenly a playoff run doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.
But enough about that for now. For the next couple days birthday boy Alan Gustafson and the rest of the No. 9 team will celebrate a win three years in the making.
Toyota Challenge
Elliott’s debut triumph came with an extra point of pride – he had to earn it against two drivers from the Big Three.
Toyota’s Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. gave Elliott a stiff challenge in his route to victory, battling with the Chevrolet driver for the top spot early on and keeping within striking distance until the checkered flag flew at the end of Lap 90.
Busch and Elliott battled for the lead through the opening stint, but it was Truex that won the first stage after the top duo each chose to come to pit road before it ended. The decision to stay out dropped Truex back in the pack in Stage 2, and in his place Elliott surged to the stage win.
Elliott led the field to green to start the final stage, but Busch surged past him after he got loose in Turn 1. From there the Nevadan drove off to a small advantage, holding the lead until the race’s final caution flag flew on Lap 55.
During the caution Busch led the field to pit road for what proved to be the final round of pit stops, and his No. 18 team had issues fueling his car. The stop went off quick, but a lack of fuel forced Busch back to pit road for a second stop on the following lap, dropping him to 31st.
“Just pit road mistakes two years in a row,” Busch said afterward. “Not sure what happened. Part failure or something, but not what we needed there to be able to run upfront with the 9 (Chase Elliott) and the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and put pressure on them.”
The incident gave the lead back to Elliott, but Truex was in pursuit. The defending race winner restarted fourth, but quickly rose to second and closed in on Elliott’s No. 9. He would spend the final run to the checkered flag lurking just behind Elliott, waiting for a mistake.
Elliott finally made one on the final lap, sailing up the track in Turn 1 after he admittedly blew the corner. But Truex was too far behind, so Elliott was able to maintain the top spot through the final half of the circuit to secure the victory.
“Just nice to win it straight up and it not be a fuel mileage race,” Elliott said of the run. “You can win these things a lot of different ways, but to actually go out there, run in the top 2 or 3 all day long and race the guy that’s won the past two road races straight up for a victory at the end is very satisfying.
Truex followed in second, leaving the race with another playoff point but without the trophy he desired.
“(Elliott) had the upper hand there at the end,” Truex said. “We were a little faster but hats off to him. He did a great job. He put his car exactly where I needed mine to be. I couldn’t get it and I was sideways. Congrats to him on his first win.”
Busch rebounded with an impressive drive to the finish to slot in behind Truex in third.
“It’s kind of frustrating when you know you come here every year with a vengeance to go out here and win this race and you’re the fastest car and you’re arguably the fastest car or arguably the fastest guy and not able to (execute),” Busch said.
He then tipped his hat to Elliott. “I told everybody pre-race, told everybody yesterday in the media center to look out for the 9 and I was right,” he said. “I wish that we could have raced with him a little bit there. Obviously, congratulations for his first win.”
Playoff Hopes Dashed
Two drivers looking at Watkins Glen an an opportunity to secure a playoff-clinching win both left New York disappointed.
AJ Allmendinger returned to the site of his lone Cup win with the usual combination of hope, stress and anticipation. The 36-year-old had been through a struggle of a season with the underfunded JTG Daugherty Racing, but the equalizer of road-course racing gave promise that he could steal a spot in the postseason field with a victory.
After qualifying eighth, Allmendinge seemed capable of mounting a challenge for the win, but he sustained damage when the field stacked up early and never recovered. He finished 15th – one spot worse than his result last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
“I’m not really sure what happened there,” he said. “I don’t know if the No. 11 and No. 18 were… I just don’t know. I was just kind of in the train of cars there just trying to be patient and they just stopped. I tried to get checked up and just got into the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and it just got the nose.
“Did (a) decent amount of damage and took a lot of the front aero away and the car wasn’t the same, obviously. It just away overall grip more front than rear.”
While Allmendinger was out of the running early, Joe Gibbs Racing shoe Daniel Suarez rose from 21st into fringe contention for his first-career Cup win. One week removed from a runner-up result at Pocono, Suarez returned to the site of his first stage win and best run in 2017 with hopes for a strong day.
The poor qualifying effort forced Suarez to mount a charge to rise into contention, but with the laps winding down he found himself battling with teammate Erik Jones for third. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion was mired too far back at that stage to challenge Elliott and Truex for the win, but a caution flag end ensuing restart would have given him a shooter’s chance.
That caution never came. Suarez got around Jones, but lost a spot to the surging Busch and finished fourth.
Another close call with victory ended with a combination of promise and disappointment. Suarez is showing the proper pace to contend for a victory, but with just four races remaining before the playoffs the Mexican knows his time is running out.
“I don’t know,” Suarez said when asked if a victory could be in the cards. “We have to keep working. We can’t give up. Now we’re heading in the right direction, so we just have to keep working.”
With their latest shot at an upset win dashed, the drivers well behind the playoff bubble will have to hope for a Hail Mary to deliver them a shocking postseason berth. Only four races remain in the regular season – Michigan, Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis.
Other Notes