After the destroyed racecars were towed away, the smoke faded and the crowd dispersed, Kyle Busch was left standing triumphantly in victory lane at Watkins Glen. Brad Keselowski got to the bumper of Kyle and bumped him in the final corner but it wasn’t enough to dislodge the No.18 from the top spot. This is Kyle’s 27th career NASCAR Sprint Cup win and his third of the year. Sonoma winner Martin Truex Jr. finished third while pole-sitter and race favorite Marcos Ambrose crashed out heavily with just a handful of laps remaining.
NASCAR’s 28th visit to Watkins Glen International Raceway was definitely an exciting one which produced an abundant supply of carnage and epic battles during the 90 lap event. The race kicked off around 1:30pm and quickly claimed its first victim via a crash in the form of 4-time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon who slammed head-on into the guard rail after getting into the wall with the left side.
Most of the big wrecks took place in the esses with a four car melee taking place 40 laps in when Ron Fellows got into Travis Kvapil. The race was red flagged to clean up the oil that was spread around the track by the wrecked cars. The turning point of the race occurred with 30 laps to go when Aric Almirola crashed during green-flag pit stops. A bunch of drivers had their days ruined by the unexpected caution but the most notable was obviously Marcos Ambrose who ironically, is Aric’s teammate. The Aussie had led all but 10 laps up to that point but was forced to restart 12th while Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr led the way.
The two made door-to-door contact in the bus stop with Busch prevailing and Keselowski moving to second. Travis Kvapil returned to the track after his earlier wreck but quickly blew a tire and the tire carcass ended up in the grass. Busch got a great restart while the field bottled up behind him and in the esses. Kasey Kahne crashed into the guard rail and after backing it into the fence, he was nailed by his teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. A few other cars got tangled up in the mess as well.
They didn’t make it any further on the following restart when Marcos Ambrose spun off the nose of Max Papis in the esses and collected Brian Vickers. Both the No.9 and No.55 were destroyed and done for the day. Marcos angrily threw his steering wheel, helmet and HANS Device before getting into the ambulance for a mandatory visit to the infield care center.
That wreck proved to be the last as they went clean and green for the final two laps with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch left to fight it out for the win. Brad began to reel in the No.18 on the penultimate lap and in the final corner, he laid the bumper to Kyle but refused to dump him stating that there is a “code of honor” that he felt he should abide by. Busch, Keselowski and Truex Jr. led the field across the stripe as the No.18 crew and Samantha celebrated on pit road.
Kasey Kahne who finished 34th and Ryan Newman who finished 14th currently hold the wild card spots with four races remaining in the regular season. Jimmie Johnson has officially clinched a spot in the chase after finishing 8th and everyone in the top seven in points is expected to make the chase with ease unless something catastrophic happens. The full race results can bee seen below…
1.) Kyle Busch #18
2.) Brad Keselowski #2
3.) Martin Truex Jr #56
4.) Carl Edwards #99
5.) Juan Pablo Montoya #42
6.) Clint Bowyer #15
7.) Joey Logano #22
8.) Jimmie Johnson #48
9.) Kurt Busch #78
10.) AJ Allmendinger #47
11.) Jamie McMurray #1
12.) Casey Mears #13
13.) Kevin Harvick #29
14.) Ryan Newman #39
15.) Max Papis #14
16.) Greg Biffle #16
17.) Paul Menard #27
18.) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17
19.) Denny Hamlin #11
20.) Danica Patrick #10
21.) David Ragan #34
22.) Boris Said #32
23.) Matt Kenseth #20
24.) Owen Kelly #51
25.) David Gilliland #38
26.) Jeff Burton #31
27.) Dave Blaney #7
28.) Landon Cassill #40
29.) Alex Kennedy #19
30.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88
31.) Marcos Ambrose #9
32.) Brian Vickers #55
33.) David Stremme #30
34.) Kasey Kahne #5
35.) Ron Fellows #33
36.) Jeff Gordon #24
37.) Aric Almirola #43
38.) Michael McDowell #35
39.) Brian Keselowski #52
40.) Travis Kvapil #93
41.) Victor Gonzalez Jr. #36
42.) Tomy Drissi #87
43.) David Retimann #83
