Partly cloudy skies in Watkins Glen. There seem to be an unseemly number of Cup drivers in this race. Joey ‘Squinty Douchey’ Logano has the pole. His Penske teammate Brad ‘It’ Keselowski has outside pole. A.J. ‘Ding Dong’ Allmendinger is in the field as are Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola, and Austin ‘Frankenstein’ Dillon, ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson. The stages will be 20-20-42 for the race. With all the Cup guys in the field I’m not expecting much of a race.
Caution on lap 4 of 82 for Tommy Joe Martins (78) hammering the tire barrier.
Tommy Joe Martins reported that he lost brakes.
There’s a rain cell about 30 minutes away from the track.
Restarting on lap 9 of 82.
Lap 18 of 82 Brandon Jones spins and slides into the tire barrier but gets it going again in the right direction. The field continues under green.
Lap 19 of 82 Austin Cindric (60) spins into the tire barrier, gets it turned around and back in the race.
Joey Logano completes the stage in the lead. The field continues under green.
Restarting on lap 24 of 82 with ‘It’ in the lead and ‘Ding Dong’ beside him.
Joey Gase (35) is sitting turned in the wrong direction on lap 25 of 82. He gets back underway in the right direction.
Caution on lap 27 of 92 for a wreck involving Matt Tifft ()2 and Justin Haley (24). Their front tires are going in different directions so neither can drive away.
The rain has arrived at the track.
Restarting on lap 3 of 82.
The treaded rain tires are being prepared. The windshield wipers are up. Cars are coming in getting the rain tires on on laps 31 of 82.
The drivers have towel covered squeegees to clear the windshields.
The lights are off on the pace car so it looks like we’ll be restating on lap 35 of 82.
They just showed a shot from the top inside of the car which was so stupid, because all you could basically see was the interior roof of the car, the dashboard and the windshield wiper. You can’t really see out the windshield.
They keep showing this dumb shot. It’s very, very aggravating. Now we’re watching somebody drive. They’re killing the broadcast of this race and any excitement generated by racing in the rain. Now its a dumb shot from out the right window of a car. Again, killing any viewing enjoyment of the rare racing in the rin.
The 01 of Vinnie Miller is into the tire barrier bringing out the caution on lap 35 of 82. Vinnie never made the turn and drove straight into the tire barrier.
The sun is shining again at the track though its still wet.
The pace car has brought the field to a stop.
The tires were moved, so they brought in a back-hoe to move the tires back into place.
Caution laps are back underway as the red flag is removed after ‘just shy of 10 and a half minutes’ per PRN.
Restarting on lap 38 of 82 with ‘Ding Dong’ and Justin ‘Dewy Alligator’ Allgaier (7) on the front frow.
The track is beginning to dry in sections.
Stage two concludes with ‘Ding Dong’ in the lead.
Dewy Alligator tapped his front tire changer as he tried to get out of his pit. The 76 of Spencer Boyd was entering his pit at the moment and also stopped. Dewy then allowed the 76 to enter his stall before the 7 exited, losing 17 spots from the second position he’d had entering the pits.
Restarting on lap 45 of 82.
‘It’ leads the field to green with Ryan Preece (18) alongside.
Ryan Preece takes the lead from ‘It’.
‘It’ is dogging him hard. He finally makes the pass on lap 47 of 82.
Green flag pit stops appear to be completed overall on lap 60 of 82.
Alex Labbe (36) leads the field since he, Jeremy Clements (52) and Tyler Reddick (9) have not made their stops
Jeremy Clements inherited the lead from pitting Alex Labbe. He gives up the lead to Tyler Reddick.
Caution is out on lap 67 of 82 for a car stopped on the side of the track. Josh Bilicki (45) has come to a stop with some mechanical issue.
Restarting on lap 69 of 82.
The 8 of Scott Heckert is creeping along down the track. The leaders streak past him on lap 71 of 82 and now the caution is out.
Restarting on lap 74 of 82.
Wreck on the restart with one car spinning in the back of the field as Joey ‘Squinty-Douchey’ Logano (22) takes ‘It’ and Ryan Preece three wide into the first turn and takes over the lead.
According to PRN there’s a good battle between Xfinity series drivers Ryan Preece and ‘Dewy Alligator’. Unfortunately we’re stuck watching ‘Squinty-Douchey’ and ‘It’ play follow the leader.
Ryan Sieg (39) is creeping around the track according to PRN on lap 78 of 82.
‘It’ spins it around on lap 79 of 82.
We now see that Justin Allgaier finally got around Ryan Preece for the second position.
Logano takes the white flag with a three or four second lead over Justin Allgaier.
Logano wins.
Justin Allgaier finishes third. Ryan Preece finishes fourth.
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