Kyle Larson pulled a Jack McCoy of a win at Watkins Glen. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – When it mattered in the final going, Kyle Larson dropped the hammer with an aggressive, confident restart with five laps remaining in Watkins Glen International.
Rallying from a soggy Stage 1 showing of 30th, Larson rallied to an eighth pace result in Stage 2 as crew chief Cliff Daniels set his driver up on a two-stop pit strategy.
Sifting his way up to the second spot in the final laps of Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen, Larson mirrored the lap times of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott. Both drivers kept within tenths of each other on the track like a great starship battle in Star Trek.
After staving off a hard charging Michael McDowell on a Lap 82 restart, Larson trailed Elliott before Loris Hezemans wound up in the Turn 7 gravel trap, resulting in the race’s final caution period.
On the race’s final and pivotal restart on Lap 86, Larson was alongside Elliott going into Turn 1 in a who’ll blink first moment.
As both drivers were rounding their way into Turn 1, Larson drew inside Elliott before making some contact. Larson’s right front wheel locked up and washed him up slightly into Elliott’s car.
However, Larson was able to get past Elliott, taking the lead for the first time. In this case, he did not look back and captured his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2022 season.
Upon reflection, while Larson scored his second win of the year, he was a bit contrite for Elliott.
“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,” Larson said to NBC NASCAR’s Marty Snider. “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.”
Larson pointed out the higher level of risk taking on the track, particularly with some of the road course ringers like Allmendinger vying for the win.
“I knew everybody’s aggression was going to be higher as each restart went on,” he observed. “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.”
Crossing the stripe in a close second position was AJ Allmendinger followed by Stage 2 winner Joey Logano, regular season champion Chase Elliott, Daniel Suárez, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Christopher Buescher and Erik Jones.
Following the victory lane celebrations, Larson hoped to clear the air while noting the opportunity that presided in the final five laps.
“I haven’t talked to anybody really yet. We’ve just been taking pictures and stuff. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll have a conversation with Jeff Gordon and Rick and probably Jeff Andrews. I’m sure Chase, as well,” Larson said in his post-race conference. “I think it’s risky taking the left lane here at Watkins Glen. It’s definitely the preferred lane as the leader, but as each restart gets further on in the race, whether it be at the end of the stage or end of the race, you’re putting yourself in a vulnerable position to get used up on exit.
“You’ve seen it a lot of different times in the years past. You take note of that. Like I said, I did what I felt like I had to do to get the win and get some bonus points that we kind of desperately need as we head on into the Playoffs.”
For Elliott and Larson, both drivers can take heart that they’ll be the top two championship favorites. Beyond their tremendous driving talents and resourceful teams, they’ve got a common denominator in fast race cars off the truck.
“Yeah, our cars have been really fast all year. I feel like all of Hendrick Motorsports has been really quick,” Larson observed. “Chase’s team has done an extremely good job all year, compared to the field really, of executing. I think that’s just really the one area that we’ve tried to focus on for a while now. It’s easy to say; it’s sometimes hard to do while you’re racing.
“If we can continue to have days like today where we execute as good as we could, called a great race with pit strategy, we did a great job on our pit stops, every restart I think we moved forward, and we brought a fast race car again to the track.”
With the Playoffs looming, Larson knows all about the importance of momentum. One may argue that his victory last year at Watkins Glen set off the winning ways associated with the No. 5 team with last year’s championship run.
Now, the focus is duplicating the successes from Watkins Glen to Daytona next Saturday night and into the Playoffs.
“If we can continue to do that as we go onto these next 11 weeks, I’m pretty confident that we can go contend for another championship,” he said with confidence.
Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
Briscoe-Reddick-Suárez-Gilliland-Chastain/Logano-Ty Dillon-McDowell-Kyle Busch-Allmendinger
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
Logano-Kyle Busch-McDowell-Elliott-Ty Dillon/Hand-Buescher-Larson-Custer-Bell
Go Bowling at the Glen Top 10 Finishers
Larson-Allmendinger-Logano-Elliott-Suárez/McDowell-Reddick-Bell-Buescher-Jones
Editor’s Notes
Nathan Solomon contributed to this race summary directly on-site from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.
