Rating the Race: Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen

Kyle Busch made perfect on his efforts to sweep the road course races in the Sprint Cup Series this season as he nabbed his first career victory at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. He led four times for a race high 52 laps, giving him his 8th win of the season and making him the first driver to win the races at both Infineon and Watkins Glen in the same year since his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, did it back in 2005. He also won the Nationwide Series race in Mexico City earlier in the year, making him the only driver in NASCAR history to win three road course races in the same season.

After rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session, the field lined up based on their order in the car owner’s points standings, setting Kyle Busch out on the pole position for the start of the race. Kyle led the first lap before handing it over to Dale Earnhardt Jr, who started on the outside of the front row. As Busch dropped back to third in the running order, Earnhardt gradually expanded his lead through the next 28 laps, but found himself in 6th after the field completed their first round of green flag pit stops.

Kyle Busch once again took the race lead on lap 30, and was still in charge when the first caution of the day came out on lap 47. NASCAR made the decision to waive the yellow due to debris on the track that was a result of some loose gravel that had been kicked up on the track. The caution was a huge break for Jimmie Johnson who had just pitted a few laps earlier when he had a rear left tire going down, but because he was running up in the top-five at the time, he was able to make his stop without losing a lap. Once pit road opened up, 14 cars remained on the track, including Johnson. Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart - running 1st and 2nd at the time - also elected to stay out.

Kyle Busch was still the race leader when the field went back to green, but the most impressive story to this point was Marcos Ambrose, who was driving the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. He was forced to start dead last due to the car’s position in owner points, but had worked his way all the way up inside the top-15 for the restart.

Kyle Busch moved to the side to allow his teammate, Tony Stewart, to lead a lap and pickup the 5 extra bonus points on lap 53, but Tony returned the favor and let Kyle go back by the following lap, and that was the only movement up front until the leaders again came into pit on lap 56. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson each led a lap during the exchange of green flag stops. Johnson came into pit on lap 58, which handed the lead back over to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With more than a 25 second lead, Earnhardt was the only car still out on the track that had not yet made his final pit stop. Despite continuing to lose a second per lap to the 2nd and 3rd place cars, Tony Eury Jr. - crew chief for the no. 88 team - elected to keep Earnhardt out on the track, but the call completely backfired when NASCAR waived the second caution flag on lap 64. The caution was again for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil kicked onto the track when he ran off the track. Earnhardt was forced to pit while the other race leaders remained out on the track, and with just 25 laps remaining, he lined up 37th for the restart.

Kyle Busch was once again deemed the race leader by virtue of Earnhardt’s misfortunes with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman chasing him. With the laps dwindling down, it almost looked as though we might have another caution when Sam Hornish Jr. spun PJ Jones on lap 70, but both cars were able to get going again, and NASCAR saw no reason to bring out the yellow.

The complexity of the race changed on lap 77 when Ryan Newman got into the corner too hard, resulting in a single car spin in Turn 9. Unable to get his car restarted, he had several close cars as the rest of the field tried to avoid the stalled car as it rolled back out onto the track. NASCAR eventually brought out the third caution, and luckily, the entire field was able to get around Newman without hitting him.

The fourth and final caution came with just 8 laps to go when Michael McDowell spun David Gilliland, setting off a huge multi-car crash that involved 9 cars right near the pit road entrance. Michael Waltrip, Bobby LaBonte, Sam Hornish Jr, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemechek all got caught up in the mess, and LaBonte appeared to be mildly injured as he was seen limping back to the infield care center.

After NASCAR stopped the race under red flag conditions for more than 40 minutes, they finally got the race restarted with Kyle Busch still in the lead, and behind him were Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr, and Kevin Harvick. Busch took the green flag with just five laps to go with Stewart keeping within a couple car lengths for the first few laps. With about 2 to go, though, Busch started to pull away, and Stewart’s new task became keeping the no. 21 of Ambrose in his rearview mirror. Busch went onto take the checkers, and Stewart was able to fend off Ambrose to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish.

Marcos Ambrose fought off Juan Pablo Montoya to hang onto third, and JPM finished 4th. Martin Truex Jr. held onto 5th to earn his first-ever top-five finish at Watkins Glen. He was followed by the 2006 winner of this event, Kevin Harvick, in 6th. 7th place went to Denny Hamlin, who capped off a solid run inside the top-ten for most of the day. Jimmie Johnson rebounded from his cut tire earlier in the race to finish in 8th. AJ Allmendinger walked away with the best NSCS finish of his career in 9th, also giving him his second top-ten in the last 3 races. Carl Edwards completed the top-ten.

Other Notables:

Matt Kenseth had a pretty quiet day, but finished 12th ….. Kasey Kahne matched his best Watkins Glen finish with a 14th place run ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up 22nd after his team’s race strategy put him in the back of the field with just over 20 laps to go ….. Jeff Gordon had an eventful day. His team had to have NASCAR black flag him to get him into the pits for the first round of stops after the team’s radio became disconnected. Gordon’s car, unfortunately, handled much like the radio, as his struggles throughout the day led to a 25th place finish ….. Robby Gordon started near the back of the pack and never was able to find his way to the front, finishing with a very disappointing 27th place finish ….. Ryan Newman’s spin on lap 77 led to a 28th place effort, as that team continues to watch their Chase hopes keep slipping away.

Kyle Busch now holds a 242 point lead on 1st in the standings, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both moved past Earnhardt Jr. to take over the 2nd and 3rd spots. Tony Stewart’s back-to-back 2nd place efforts have also moved him up to 7th overall, and he now has a 138 point cushion in the Chase standings. Matt Kenseth also moved up a spot to take over the 12th and final spot in the Chase, moving Clint Bowyer back down to 13th. He’s now 22 points out of the Chase.

Grades:

the Race: 75%

Drama: 74%

Coverage: 90%

Pre-Race: 81%

Overall Grade: 78.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

FIN	ST	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	PTS/BNS	LAPS	STATUS
1	1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	195/10	90	Running
2	9	20	Tony Stewart	Toyota	The Home Depot	175/5	90	Running
3	41	21	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Little Debbie	165/0	90	Running
4	25	42	Juan Montoya	Dodge	Big Red Slim Pack	165/5	90	Running
5	16	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	155/0	90	Running
6	11	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	150/0	90	Running
7	10	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	146/0	90	Running
8	4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	147/5	90	Running
9	35	84	A.J. Allmendinger	Toyota	Red Bull	138/0	90	Running
10	3	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	134/0	90	Running
11	19	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	130/0	90	Running
12	13	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT	127/0	90	Running
13	30	01	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Red Head	124/0	90	Running
14	7	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Budweiser	121/0	90	Running
15	20	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	Best Buy / Garmin	118/0	90	Running
16	18	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	Crown Royal	115/0	90	Running
17	5	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	AT&T Mobility	112/0	90	Running
18	17	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	109/0	90	Running
19	22	5	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	CARQUEST / Kellogg’s	106/0	90	Running
20	37	10	Patrick Carpentier *	Dodge	Charter Comm.	103/0	90	Running
21	8	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	100/0	90	Running
22	2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / AMP Energy	102/5	90	Running
23	12	07	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	DIRECTV	94/0	90	Running
24	42	45	Boris Said	Dodge	Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil	91/0	90	Running
25	6	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	88/0	90	Running
26	34	00	Michael McDowell *	Toyota	Champion Mortgage	85/0	90	Running
27	31	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	Jim Beam	82/0	90	Running
28	14	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	Kodak	79/0	90	Running
29	27	15	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Quaker State / Menards	76/0	90	Running
30	32	77	Sam Hornish Jr. *	Dodge	Mobil 1	73/0	90	Running
31	40	6	David Ragan	Ford	AAA Insurance	70/0	90	Running
32	28	41	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	Target	67/0	90	Running
33	26	44	David Reutimann	Toyota	UPS	64/0	88	Running
34	33	66	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	State Water Heaters	61/0	88	Running
35	15	8	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	58/0	88	Running
36	23	28	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Hitachi Power Tools	55/0	88	Running
37	36	96	P.J. Jones	Toyota	DLP HDTV	52/0	88	Running
38	39	78	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	49/0	86	In Pit
39	43	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA AUTO PARTS	46/0	82	Running
40	24	38	David Gilliland	Ford	DISH Network Turbo HD	43/0	81	Running
41	29	22	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Caterpillar	40/0	81	In Pit
42	21	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios / Betty Crocker	37/0	81	In Pit
43	38	70	Max Papis	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	34/0	81	In Pit

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	–	Kyle Busch	3254	Leader	22	2	8	13	14
2	+1	Carl Edwards	3012	-242	22	0	4	9	16
3	+1	Jimmie Johnson	3010	-244	22	3	2	7	12
4	-2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2985	-269	22	1	1	7	12
5	–	Jeff Burton	2945	-309	22	0	1	4	11
6	–	Jeff Gordon	2754	-500	22	2	0	8	10
7	+2	Tony Stewart	2744	-510	22	0	0	8	11
8	-1	Kasey Kahne	2713	-541	22	2	2	3	11
9	+1	Denny Hamlin	2689	-565	22	1	1	6	11
10	-2	Greg Biffle	2689	-565	22	2	0	6	9
11	–	Kevin Harvick	2670	-584	22	0	0	4	8
12	+1	Matt Kenseth	2628	-626	22	0	0	4	12
13	-1	Clint Bowyer	2606	-648	22	0	1	4	10
14	–	David Ragan	2539	-715	22	0	0	4	7
15	–	Ryan Newman	2424	-830	22	1	1	2	7
16	+1	Martin Truex Jr.	2419	-835	22	0	0	3	7
17	-1	Brian Vickers	2418	-836	22	0	0	3	5
18	–	Kurt Busch	2269	-985	22	0	1	3	5
19	–	Jamie McMurray	2231	-1023	22	0	0	0	5
20	+1	Elliott Sadler	2159	-1095	22	0	0	2	5
21	-1	Bobby Labonte	2121	-1133	22	0	0	0	1
22	+3	Juan Montoya	2117	-1137	22	0	0	2	3
23	-1	Travis Kvapil	2071	-1183	22	0	0	0	3
24	–	Casey Mears	2070	-1184	22	0	0	1	4
25	+1	David Gilliland	1979	-1275	22	0	0	1	2
26	-3	Mark Martin	1965	-1289	16	0	0	2	7
27	–	David Reutimann	1927	-1327	22	0	0	0	1
28	–	Paul Menard	1883	-1371	22	1	0	0	0
29	+1	Robby Gordon	1770	-1484	22	0	0	0	2
30	+1	Reed Sorenson	1736	-1518	21	0	0	1	2
31	-2	Dave Blaney	1736	-1518	21	0	0	0	2
32	–	Michael Waltrip	1682	-1572	22	0	0	1	1
33	–	Sam Hornish Jr.*	1674	-1580	22	0	0	0	0
34	–	Regan Smith*	1584	-1670	20	0	0	0	0
35	–	Scott Riggs	1549	-1705	20	0	0	0	0
36	+1	Patrick Carpentier*	1333	-1921	18	1	0	0	0
37	+1	Joe Nemechek	1272	-1982	19	1	0	0	0
38	-2	J.J. Yeley	1263	-1991	17	0	0	1	1
39	+1	A.J. Allmendinger	1226	-2028	14	0	0	0	1
40	-1	Michael McDowell*	1200	-2054	17	0	0	0	0

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