Chase Elliott Finally Finds Victory Lane at Watkins Glen

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the GoBowling.com at the Glen from Watkins Glen International on Sunday afternoon for his first career victory.

After qualifying third for Sunday’s race, Elliott ran up front throughout the day.  After challenging throughout the first stage, Elliott took the lead from Kyle Busch at the beginning of stage 2. 

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After a pit miscue sent Busch to the back before the final run, Elliott had to hold off Martin Truex Jr. throughout the final 30 laps. 

Elliott said he almost gave the win away on the final lap when his car wheel-hopped going into Turn 1.

“I started wheel-hopping and I had two options: either knock it out of gear or spin out…I chose to knock it out of gear,” Elliott said.  “Luckily I had a big enough gap at the time where Martin wasn’t next to me.  I thought if I could just be in front of him before the esses, typically you can gap a guy through there.”

After finishing second eight times throughout his first 98 career Cup Series races, Elliott was finally able to get to victory lane in his 99th career race. 

Elliott said he was relieved to finally get the first victory out of the way.

“So thrilled, so emotional, so much relief,” Elliott said.  “Working on three years and we haven’t won one.  I had the opportunity today and we were able to get it done.”

“I had a good group around me to keep pushing me and keep making me realize we weren’t in those positions by accident.  Just wanted to make sure if we were in a position to capitalize, and we did it.”

Truex finished second after running out of fuel on the final lap, and said that he believed his car was faster than Elliott’s over the final run.

“I could catch him, but just when I’d get close, I’d get loose and fall back,” Truex said.  “He put his car exactly where I needed to be and I couldn’t get him.  I gave it everything I had every single lap.”

“We ran out of gas on the last lap, so I guess it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Kyle Busch

4. Daniel Suarez

5. Erik Jones

6. Kyle Larson

7. Jamie McMurray

8. William Byron

9. Kurt Busch

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Denny Hamlin

14. Alex Bowman

15. AJ Allmendinger

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Michael McDowell

19. Ryan Newman

20. Chris Buescher

21. Kasey Kahne

22. Aric Almirola

23. Ty Dillon

24. Parker Kligerman

25. Darrell Wallace Jr.

26. David Ragan

27. Austin Dillon

28. Paul Menard

29. Matt Kenseth

30. Jimmie Johnson

31. Landon Cassill

32. Ross Chastain

33. Matt DiBenedetto

34. Cole Whitt

35. Spencer Gallagher

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Joey Logano

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