Elliott chasing history
Reigning Cup champ seeking third straight win at Watkins Glen
Three-peat at Watkins Glen? Not on Chase Elliott’s radar. OK, maybe a little bit. “I’m just excited to be going back. I’m looking forward to the challenge,“Elliott, the reigning NASCAR Cup champion, said this week on a Zoom call. “Every time you go to the track, look, it’s always going to be tough. As I’ve said many times before, past success doesn’t equal future success and I don’t think that’s any different this weekend. I anticipate everybody else will be better than they were last time we were up there. And we just try to make sure we match it ourselves to have another shot.”
The NASCAR Cup Series resumes at Watkins Glen International on Sunday after a two-week break for the Tokyo Olympics, and Elliott will be chasing a little history.
He’s won the past two races at the natural terrain road course in the Finger Lakes region of New York — last year’s race was moved to the road course at Daytona International Speedway because of the pandemic and Elliott won that one, too — and another victory would put him in select company. Only Mark Martin (1993-95) and Jeff Gordon (1997-99) have won three in a row at The Glen since NASCAR began racing there annually in 1986.
Brad Keselowski starts on pole alongside Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney is third, giving Team Penske the top three spots. Elliott starts in the 11th position. There was no practice or qualifying.
Elliott will be making his 17th Cup road course start for Hendrick Motorsports. He has seven wins across five different tracks, nine top-five finishes and 326 laps led. He’s one victory shy of tying Tony Stewart for second all-time in road course wins and two behind Gordon.
Trucks: Pole-sitter Austin Hill won the race at Watkins Glen, taking the victory when lightning struck nearby and rain halted the race with 11 laps to go. Hill held off John Hunter Nemechek on a restart with 15 laps left as thunderstorms neared, with Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland and Parker Kligerman in close pursuit. The race was red-flagged because of a lightning strike and with an Xfinity Series race on deck. It was Hill’s second win of the season and eighth of his career. Nemechek was second, followed by Creed, Gilliland and Kligerman.
Xfinity: Ty Gibbs passed road race ace AJ Allmendinger after a restart with four laps to go and won the race at Watkins Glen International. It was the third win in 10 series races this season for the 18-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs. Points leader Austin Cindric was third, Pole-sitter Justin Allgaier fourth, and Harrison Burton fifth.
IndyCar: Colton Herta stamped himself as the driver to beat in the inaugural IndyCar Music City Grand Prix, winning the pole after he was fastest in both practice sessions in Nashville, Tenn. Jimmie Johnson starts last after he damaged his car when he hit the wall moments into qualifying.