Next week in Indianapolis, you may struggle to pick which Hendrick Motorsports driver is the favorite as Kyle Larson has done it again. Larson's victory may have been well in hand for the last 20 laps of today's NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, but he actually spent most of the day in a three-way battle with Joe Gibbs Racing cars that seemed to be just as quick as him. The battle took a turn when he and the JGR Toyota of his longtime dirt racing rival Christopher Bell made contact in turn 1, spinning Bell and leaving Larson in a one-on-one battle with leader Martin Truex Jr. Larson cleared Truex, eventually building a significant lead over him and never looking back.
“It’s awesome,” Larson said after his series-leading fifth victory of the season. “It really shows just how good the organization is.”
Elliott who raced through the field after having to start from the back due to a penalty in pre race inspection, looked strong but battled through multiple setbacks throughout the race. Elliott was able to make it to second place and finish there, but was more than two seconds behind Larson.
“I just hate it. I made too many mistakes to win,” Elliott said. “It was too late in the race to recover from it.”
Martin Truex Jr. seemed to have the strongest Toyota on Sunday as all 4 of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars seemed to be the only real coopetition coming outside of the Hendrick Motorsports stable.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin completed the top five, while William Byron and Christopher Bell in sixth and seventh guaranteed only Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports cars in the top seven on a day dominated by the two blue chip teams. The win for Larson moves him into a dead heat with Hamlin for the regular season championship lead, a battle that at one time Hamlin had a huge lead but after a hot summer from Larson and a lack of wins for Hamlin is currently tied.
Top 10:
Kyle Larson
Chase Elliott
Martin Truex, Jr.
Kyle Busch
Denny Hamlin
William Byron
Christopher Bell
Kevin Harvick
Chase Briscoe
Tyler Reddick
Matt DiBenedetto
Ross Chastain
Kurt Busch
Ryan Blaney
Austin Dillon
Aric Almirola
Chris Buescher
Cole Custer
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Alex Bowman
Michael McDowell
Joey Logano
Bubba Wallace
Corey LaJoie
Ryan Newman
Anthony Alfredo
Erik Jones
Ryan Preece
Justin Haley
Kyle Tilley
Daniel Suarez
Quin Houff
Josh Bilicki
R.C. Enerson
Brad Keselowski
Garrett Smithley
James Davison
Check out the recap by Dustin Long of NBC Sports:
Fantasy Players, check out the recap from David Fucillo: