WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series main event at Watkins Glen International proved to be a chaotic one after late-race restarts shuffled up the running order. Looking at the big picture, all four drivers from Hendrick Motorsports leave New York well above the cutline heading into Bristol Motor Speedway's Round of 16 cutoff race next week.
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The 90-lap main event began with an accident exiting the inner loop on the first lap. Thankfully, no drivers from Rick Hendrick's team were involved and the group carried on for stage one. Alex Bowman (second), Chase Elliott (sixth), and Kyle Larson (eighth) each stayed on the race track to maximize stage points while William Byron pitted ahead of the stage break.
For the second segment, the race remained under green flag conditions until Daniel Suarez spun into the gravel trap late in the run. The ensuing caution ended stage two with Byron finishing fifth and Bowman eighth to score valuable stage points. Elliott and Larson each pitted prior to the yellow coming out to flip the segment, but the No. 5 team was penalized for equipment interference on their stop.
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The final segment was briefly halted for debris on Lap 47 but continued under the green flag after the restart. The day looked to be playing out as a strategy race before more debris, this time from Harrison Burton's No. 21 entry, set up a mad dash to the finish with nine laps on the board. Under the caution flag, the top nine drivers stayed on the racetrack, meaning all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers hit pit road.
The bunched up field would restart three times to end the race. On the first resumption, Byron made contact with Joey Logano as well as Brad Keselowski, ending with an intense crash and a badly damaged race car. However, the team was able to make repairs to avoid a DNF and maintain valuable points.
The second restart saw more of the same, this time for Elliott. Headed into turn two, the No. 9 car's gap closed, sending him into Josh Berry's machine and causing suspension damage to Elliott's car. For the final restart, Larson and Bowman managed to steer clear of any trouble and finish 12th and 18th respectively. Elliott followed his teammate to finish in the 19th position while Byron managed to end the 90-lap main event in the 34th spot.
Chris Buescher took home the victory on Sunday after battling Shane Van Gisbergen all the way to the checkered flag.
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Take a look at the Cup Series playoff standings heading into Bristol.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings
- Joey Logano (ADV)
- Christopher Bell (+46)
- Austin Cindric (+43)
- Alex Bowman (+41)
- Daniel Suarez (+36)
- Tyler Reddick (+30)
- Chase Elliott (+30)
- Ryan Blaney (+29)
- Kyle Larson (+26)
- William Byron (+25)
- Chase Briscoe (+6)
- Ty Gibbs (+6)
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13. Denny Hamlin (-6)
14. Brad Keselowski (-12)
15. Martin Truex Jr. (-14)
16. Harrison Burton (-20)
Tune in on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET to catch the Cup Series main event from Bristol, Tennessee. Coverage will be available on USA Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).