Elliott gets his first Cup victory

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Like father, like son.

Mired in a confounding losing streak since the start of his NASCAR Cup career in 2016, Chase Elliott finally broke into the win column Sunday, holding off road course ace Martin Truex Jr. in the Go Bowling at The Glen.

The son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who also won his first Cup race on a road course (Riverside in 1983 in his 124th start), Chase celebrated a triumph he will cherish forever. Out of fuel after the finish, he was pushed to victory lane by the banged-up No. 48 Chevy of seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, a teammate and one of his staunchest supporters, as his father raced to join the celebration after spotting.

Toss in the raucous cheers of the sellout crowd and it doesn’t get much better than that.

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” said Elliott, who has finished second eight times in Cup. “I was going to do a burnout, but I ran out of gas. Certainly glad that we were on the front end today.”

Elliott’s victory came in his 99th Cup start and was the 250th win for Hendrick Motorsports, breaking a 37-race losing streak for one of NASCAR’s signature teams. It also assured Elliott a spot in the playoffs as he became only the fifth driver to win a race outside of the “Big 3” of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Truex, who have combined to win 16 of 22 races.

Truex ran second to Elliott for most of the final stage and began to steadily close as both drivers tried to save enough gas to reach the end of the 90-lap race. It was a two-car breakaway as the rest of the field was more than 11 seconds back.

Eau Claire’s Paul Menard was dealt a blow to his playoff chances before the race even started when his No. 21 Ford failed inspection Sunday morning and he was sent to the rear of the 37-car field. Menard entered the race tied for 16th in points with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who started 23rd. Stenhouse finished 16th, 12 spots ahead of Menard, and leads him by 10 points. The top 16 drivers make the 10-race playoffs.