NASCAR: Larson holds off Allmendinger to double up at The Glen

Larson made a dramatic pass on his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go on the historic road course. As the race leader, Elliott got to choose where to lineup alongside Larson for the green flag and chose to start on Larson’s outside, setting up the dramatic contention for position.

Larson maneuvered past Elliott in the wide-sweeping turn with both Allmendinger and Joey Logano able to get around Elliott as well. Allmendinger gave chase to Larson, but for the second day in a row, Larson, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet again proved too much.

It was the second-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory for Larson, 30, at Watkins Glen – finishing 0.882-seconds ahead of Kaulig Racing’s Allmendinger. It’s Larson’s 18th career win and second of the 2022 season for the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Team Penske’s Logano finished third just ahead of Elliott, who could take some considerable consolation in officially securing the 2022 Regular Season Championship – his first – at the end of Stage 1 on Sunday.

Larson immediately addressed the winning move.

That was really my only opportunity (to go for the lead), I’m not proud of it,’’  Larson said, “But being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets late in the race, it’s definitely risky.

“I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I feel like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after rate green flag cycle trying to chase hi down. Kind of burned my stuff up a little bit.

“But the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. I’m proud of my guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, we haven’t had a lot here this year.’’

Larson said he anticipated having a conversation with Elliott and reiterated that he was only making a move, he felt necessary, to go for the victory. Something he thought Elliott would have done as well.

“We have a competition meeting tomorrow.,’’ Larson said. “I think if I was in his shoes, I would understand the risk that I’m taking, taking the left lane also. I’m not proud of it but I did what I felt like I had to do to get the win.’’

For his part after the race, Elliott said only, “Congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team and at Hendrick Motorsports for getting the win.’’

Elliott – who led a race high 30 of the 80 laps – again took the company line when asked what he would say to Larson, “Congratulations. … always good to see HMS win. The boss [Rick Hendrick] deserves all the great wins that come for this company.’’

Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez finished fifth, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, who led 14 laps.

Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Petty GMS Racing’s Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.

German driver Mike Rockenfeller – a sportscar ace and former Rolex 24 at Daytona winner – posted the best finish (30th) among a series-high seven international entries at Watkins Glen.

Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen had a solid effort in his NASCAR Cup Series debut – running as high as eighth place in Stage 2 before pitting. His day in the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet came to an early end, however, when he was nudged off-track and into a tire barrier while racing among a large group of cars on the ensuing restart.

Räikkönen 41, of Finland, climbed out of his car and appeared fine physically. Although disappointed with the finish to what looked like a promising day, he said he was still overall happy with his debut in NASCAR’s big leagues.

“It was good fun, you know, and I felt more confident all the time and had some good battles and the car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes sometimes,’’ said Räikkönen, who officially finished 37th in the 39-car field.

With one race remaining in the regular season and one spot still to be settled for the 16-driver Playoff field, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney holds a 25-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. for the final transfer position should no new winner emerge next week. They finished 23rd (Truex) and 24th (Blaney) on Sunday and both drivers are still looking for their first victory of the year.

Blaney heads into the regular season finale next week at Daytona International Speedway as the defending race winner. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona Beach is set for Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the 16 drivers qualifying for the 10-race Playoffs that begin Sept. 4 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Note:

Watkins Glen International today announced the seventh consecutive grandstand sellout and the second straight camping sellout for the Go Bowling at The Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at the historic Central New York road course.

“Weekends like this show why Watkins Glen International fans are the best in motorsports,” said WGI President Michael Printup. “After last year’s first-ever camping sellout, we added even more spaces – and the fans responded by filling those. I’m so proud of our team at The Glen who has worked hard to ensure all our fans have plenty of entertainment and excitement to accompany the great racing all weekend.”

The Glen’s announcement comes on the heels of such news as the first sellout of infield campsites at Michigan International Speedway since 2012 and their largest attendance total since 2016, as well as the largest crowd at Pocono since 2010. This weekend’s sellout underscores the attendance success NASCAR is experiencing across the board in 2022.

QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner

Tell me about the move to pass your teammate, Chase Elliott. We did see the right front locked up going into turn one.

“Yeah, I knew that was kind of my only opportunity. I’m not proud of it. But being in the inside lane or the right lane.. being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets too late in the race, it’s definitely risky.

Like I said, I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit.

The restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, which we haven’t had many of those this year. Hopefully this will build on some momentum and we can keep racking up some more points.”

If the shoe was on the other foot, would you want to have a conversation with your teammate?

“I’m sure, yeah, we would ultimately have a conversation. We have a competition meeting tomorrow.

Yeah, I think if I was in his shoes; I would understand the risk that I’m taking choosing left lane also. Again, like I said, I’m not proud of it, but it’s what I felt like I had to do to get the win.”

Did you learn something on the restart before that you said you’re going to try to take advantage of it on the final one?

“Yeah, all the restarts I was in the right lane yesterday with William (Byron). I always got myself in a bad spot where my angle was pinched off. We’d always make contact and I’d end up sideways and get passed by people.

I knew everybody’s aggression was going to be higher as each restart went on. I didn’t want to put myself in that position again to get passed by AJ (Allmendinger) or Joey (Logano), who were really aggressive behind me.

Yeah, it’s just part of racing at road courses, especially this year it seems like. Again, not proud of it, but we did what we had to do.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd

You had a chance there on those last couple of restarts. Would you have done anything differently?

“I don’t think so. Obviously, Kyle (Larson) drove it in quite deep to get the lead there on Chase (Elliott) and I was getting shoved in the corner. Maybe if I could have gotten the car squared off a little bit earlier in the corner.. but obviously I was getting run into so hard that I was happy just to keep it on the race track and not have anybody next to me off the corner.

Just proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. This is absolutely one of the most fun cars I have ever driven in my life. I was hustling it and it was fast. The Action Industries Chevy, can’t thank them enough. To finish second in a Cup race in your first year as a team isn’t bad. But god, when you are that close, it’s disappointing.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th

Kyle says he’s not happy about the way the pass happened. He also said if he was in your shoes, he would have understood the risk of restarting on the outside. Did you consider that risk on the final restart?

“Just a huge congratulations to Kyle (Larson) and everybody on the No. 5 team. Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win. Appreciate Kelley Blue Book for being on our car this weekend.”

He says this would be discussed between the two of you. What would you like to say to him?

“Congratulations. He did a great job. Seriously, they deserve it. Looking forward to going to Daytona next week and trying to get one for our team.”

Your first conversation was with Mr. Hendrick; was he able to console you at all on the loss today?

“Just congratulated him. Like I said, always good to see HMS win. The boss deserves all the wins, all the great things that go on with this company. Proud of that. Looking forward to next week.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 PRINCESS CRUISES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th

“Our No. 99 Princess Cruises Chevy was good. It was a little bit tight, a little bit loose. I felt like we had to play with the balance of the car quite a bit. But overall, I felt like our car was good. Probably not a winning car, but a solid top-five car. With the right circumstances, we probably could have won the race, but we just spent too much time trying to gain track position.”

Race Results