Elliott, who started on the pole, won the first two stages and led 80 of the event’s 90 laps. But as the race came down to the finish, there was a familiar driver in his rearview mirror — Martin Truex Jr., the same driver who pursued him to the finish line a year ago.
Truex closed on Elliott’s bumper several times in the closing laps, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver hit all his marks to hold him off and win the GoBowling at The Glen.
It’s Elliott’s second victory this season, and career win No. 5.
“That was freakin’ awesome,” Elliott told NBCSN afterward. “I just stayed mistake free. Martin was a little quicker those last two runs but track position was king.”
“I tried to do all I could. Chase just did an excellent job,” Truex said. “I just tried to force a mistake but he hit his marks.”
Elliott becomes just the fifth driver to win two straight races at Watkins Glen, joining Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose.
Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney
The event featured some intense racing throughout the field. In one sequence in the third stage, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace rubbed fenders, and Wallace sent Busch spinning.
Busch radioed his team, “I don’t know how (Bubba Wallace) still gets to race. If I had done that, I’d be parked.”
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup results at Watkins Glen
- Chase Elliott 2. Martin Truex Jr. 3. Denny Hamlin 4. Erik Jones 5. Ryan Blaney 6. Matt DiBenedetto 7. Kevin Harvick 8. Kyle Larson 9. Brad Keselowski 10. Kurt Busch 11. Kyle Busch 12. Aric Almirola 13. Chris Buescher 14. Alex Bowman 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 16. Michael McDowell 17. Daniel Suarez 18. Paul Menard 19. Jimmie Johnson 20. Clint Bowyer 21. William Byron 22. David Ragan 23. Joey Logano 24. Matt Tifft 25. Ryan Newman 26. Parker Kligerman 27. Ross Chastain 28. Bubba Wallace 29. Landon Cassill 30. Ty Dillon 31. Austin Dillon 32. Josh Bilicki 33. Cody Ware 34. Corey LaJoie 35. Daniel Hemric 36. Ryan Preece 37. Reed Sorenson
