Only 37 drivers in today’s field. MRN is making a big deal about a sell-out in both the grandstands and campgrounds. Well at least someone can get a full house since NASCAR can’t manage a full field anymore. Good on Watkins Glen. I wonder how many tickets constitute a full house. So that’s about 33,000 people. Denny Hamlin (11) will lead the field to the green flag. The stages are 20-20-50.
Joey ‘Squinty-Douchey’ Logano (22) is off the track on lap 2 of 90. He wanders through the gravel trap into the grass, then gets it headed back on-track and the race continues under green.
Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) goes around on lap 3 bringing out the caution.
Joey’s car is done for the day.
AJ ‘Ding Dong’ Allmendinger (47) got into the back of the 22 and damaged his car.
Looks like Ding Dong smashed into the back of Joey sending him into ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson (42). Logano’s car started spewing fluid and he eventually went off course. Allmendinger is a menace.
Restarting on lap 5 of 90 with Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) in the lead.
The 38 of David ‘Thrilla from Unadilla’ Ragan is off track on lap 8 of 90. He gets it fired up and headed back on track.
Joey says the field checked up in front of Kutey Kyle who then checked up and Joey got into the back of him and tore the front off his car.
Ricky ‘Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse (17) drove through the grass a bit requiring a trip to pit road.
Some of the top ten cars are making pit tops under the green flag before the end of the stage.
Martin Truex Jr inherits the lead as KyBu comes in for a pit stop on lap 18 of 90.
Truex wins the stage with Jimmie Johnson (48) getting second place stage points.
William Byron (24) and Michael McDowell (34) follow Jimmie to the green and white checkered flag.
Alex Bowman (88) and Chris Buescher (37) finished the stage in seventh and eighth positions respectively.
Jimmie’s rear-view mirror has come loose and he was handed a wrench during the pit stop to try to tighten things up.
The previous race leaders re-inherit the lead since they made their pit stops before stage end so KyBu and Denny Hamlin will lead the field to green.
Restarting on lap 25 of 90.
Chase Elliott (9) takes second from Denny Hamlin on the restart. Chase is looking for an opening around KyBu.
Hamlin is a moving chicane plugging up the field behind him and losing ground to the lead two.
Chase takes the lead on lap 27 of 90.
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Clint Bowyer (14) and Kurt Busch (41) are in on lap 38 of 90 for pit stops
Chase Elliott wins stage two.
Restarting on lap 43 of 90 with in Chase Elliott the front of the field.
Jimmie is getting sent to the rear o the field for going through too many pit boxes on the stop. He cut the corner of a pit box.
KyBu takes the lead from Chase on the restart.
Ryan Newman (31) takes a spin on lap 47 of 90 as the field stays under green.
Caution is out on lap 53 of 90 for an issue by the Matt DiBenedetto (32) car.
Several cars are doing the fuel-save-shut-off as they’re riding around under caution with pit road closed. Several cars had planned to pit this lap.
Chase Elliott clipped one of his crew members who seemed okay after the incident signalling – like a baseball umpire – that he was safe.
Denny Hamlin took out two of his team members, a tire and an air gun. He hit the crew man, then the tire, then snatched the air-gun out of the crewman’s hands that he hit, then the cable and air-gun hit another crewman.
It looked to me like Denny Hamlin took equipment out of the box during his pit stop – the air-gun hose
KyBu didn’t get any fuel in his car, the probe broke, so he’s had to come back in for fuel. He will restart in 24th.
The 10 (Aric Almirola), 13 (Ty Dillon), 43 (Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace), 11 (Hamlin) all got pit stop penalties and will drop to the tail of the field.
Restarting on lap 32 of 90 with Chase Elliott and Austin ‘Frankenstein’ Dillon (3) leading them to green.
Truex takes the second spot from KuBu with 31 laps to go as he’s chasing Martin Truex Jr (78).
Matt Kenseth (6) got turned around and into the wall with 22 laps to go. The field stays green.
The 15 of Ross Chastain has lost a tire and slid into the wall on lap 79 of 90.
The 48 is in the pits smoking from the right rear. He was turned by someone. Allmendinger. Menace.
As Jimmie came back onto the track possibly the 48 had contact with the 47 again.
Someone else – the 3 – is off the track in the gravel pit ahead of the leaders. The field remains under the green glad with six laps to go.
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS his first Cup Series race in his 99th start for win 250 for Hendrick Motorsports.
KyBu finished third.
Jimmie is pushing Chase who has run out of gas before completing his victory lap. The push gave him enough speed to get back to his pit where the crew came out onto the track to celebrate with him.
Bill Elliott worked as one of the spotters for his son Chase.
The crew went nuts when Chase won the stage and for the win.
Martin Truex Jr said he ran out of gas on the last lap.
NASCAR News:
- NASCAR reacts to Chase Elliott’s first Monster Energy Series win.
- Chase Elliott gives Hendrick Motorsports 250th Cup win.
- GMS Racing announces 62-year-old Bill Elliott will return to Xfinity Series at Road America.
- Christian Fittipaldi says he’ll retire after Rolex 24 At Daytona.