FBF: Chase Elliott claims first Cup win at Watkins Glen By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
In this week’s edition of Flashback Friday, Kickin’ The Tires relives when Chase Elliott surged to victory lane at Watkins Glen for his first win in NASCAR’s premiere series on August 8, 2018.
The victory may have been the most popular win of the season, especially if you ask Chase Elliott’s fan base.
Elliott’s first win in NASCAR’s premiere series was bound to happen and it wasn’t a matter of if it was a question of when.
It would happen almost one year ago when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visited the twists and turns of Watkins Glen International.
The series was at the well-known road course for the 22nd race on the schedule, the Go Bowling at The Glen.
It took 99 Cup Series starts but Elliott was able to not only win Stage 2 after starting the race in fourth but hold off fellow competitor, Martin Truex Jr.
Truex ran second to the Georgia native for most of the final stage and was able to make up some ground on Elliott towards the end.
Truex would even close in on Elliott’s back bumper out of the first turn on the final lap, but it wasn’t enough.
Elliott was able to refocus and pull away from Truex for his first Cup Series victory.
“Holy cow, I don’t know what to say just so thrilled, so emotional, so much relief,” said Elliott.
“Working on three years, I hadn’t won one. I came here with a great opportunity today, and I was able to get it done.”
Furthermore, the victory marked the 250th for Hendrick Motorsports.
It was the first for the organization since Kasey Kahne had won The Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway a year earlier.
Career Update:
Following his victory at Watkins Glen, Elliott went on to win two more times during the 2018 season with those wins coming at Dover and Kansas in the fall.
In 2019, Elliott has claimed one victory coming at Talladega Superspeedway earlier in the season.
Overall, he’s earned two pole awards, six Top-5s, seven Top-10s and led 409 laps heading into this weekend’s event.
Read More: Christopher Bell continues strong season at The Glen