Kyle Larson beats Chase Elliott to win at Watkins Glen
The only driver who can beat Chase Elliott on road courses is Kyle Larson.
Larson got his second road course win of the season on Sunday at Watkins Glen as he held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate over the final seven laps. Elliott had to start at the back because of a pre-race inspection failure and was forced to pick his way through the field all day. Larson started near the front of the field and had the benefit of track position for most of the race.
Larson got the lead on lap 65 during the race's final sequence of pit stops. He entered pit road under green behind Martin Truex Jr. but came out ahead of Truex after the pit stops happened. Elliott — who spun at one point earlier in the race and had to make an unexpected stop for fresh tires — was able to chase down Truex but wasn't able to get near Larson's bumper after dealing with lapped traffic over the final two laps of the race.
The win is Larson's fifth of the season. He now has two road course wins this year after winning at Sonoma in June. Elliott, NASCAR's most dominant road course driver over the last few seasons, has the other two with wins at Circuit of the Americas and Road America.
Christopher Bell battles back to finish 7th
Christopher Bell was a threat to win Sunday's race until he got spun.
Larson got into Bell and spun him as the two entered Turn 1 with 35 laps to go while running second and third to Truex. The incident got Larson up to second and dropped Bell outside the top 10 and ruined his chances for a win.
AROUND GOES CHRISTOPHER BELL!
Kyle Larson locks it up entering turn 1, and gets into the No. 20!
TV: NBCSN#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/cP0k3S5g4Q— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 8, 2021
Bell was no guarantee to win the race but he felt like a lock for a top five before the spin. Instead, he had to fight his way back to seventh as all four Joe Gibbs Racing cars finished in the top seven.
Three of the four Hendrick Motorsports cars also finished in the top seven. With William Byron finishing sixth, the only Hendrick car that wasn't in the top eight was Alex Bowman in 20th.
Larson ties Hamlin in points
The win means that Larson is now tied with Denny Hamlin — who finished fifth — for the points lead in the Cup Series.
Larson has chased down Hamlin over the last 10 races thanks to all the wins he’s recorded while Hamlin has been winless so far this season. The two are tied with 917 points ahead of Byron in third with 786.
Race results
1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Kyle Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. William Byron
7. Christopher Bell
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Tyler Reddick
11. Matt DiBenedetto
12. Ross Chastain
13. Kurt Busch
14. Ryan Blaney
15. Austin Dillon
16. Aric Almirola
17. Chris Buescher
18. Cole Custer
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20. Alex Bowman
21. Michael McDowell
22. Joey Logano
23. Bubba Wallace
24. Corey LaJoie
25. Ryan Newman
26. Anthony Alfredo
27. Erik Jones
28. Ryan Preece
29. Justin Haley
30. Kyle Tilley
31. Daniel Suarez
32. Quin Houff
33. Josh Bilicki
34. RC Enerson
35. Brad Keselowski
36. Garrett Smithley
37. James Davison
Points standings
There are three races to go (Indianapolis road course, Michigan, Daytona) before the playoffs.
1. Kyle Larson, 917 points
2. Denny Hamlin, 917
3. William Byron, 786
4. Kyle Busch, 779
5. Joey Logano, 760
6. Chase Elliott, 749
7. Martin Truex Jr., 740
8. Ryan Blaney, 712
9. Kevin Harvick, 710
10. Brad Keselowski, 678
11. Alex Bowman, 633
12. Tyler Reddick, 630
13. Austin Dillon, 615
14. Kurt Busch, 576
15. Christopher Bell, 571
16. Chris Buescher, 495
17. Matt DiBenedetto, 483
18. Ross Chastain, 482
19. Michael McDowell, 464
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 442
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