WATKINS GLEN RACE REVIEW

Date: 8-21-2022.
Name of the race: Go Bowling at the Glen.
Track: Watkins Glen International. 
Laps: 90. 
Pole winner: Chase Elliott. 
Outside pole: Kyle Larson.
Stage 1 winner: Chase Briscoe.
Stage 2 winner: Joey Logano.
Stage 3 winner (won the race): Kyle Larson. 
Top 5: Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Daniel Suarez. 
FYI: As always for the past few weeks the FYI section starts by stating that Kurt Busch is out once again until the start of the playoffs, but who knows if he will come back at all this year and if he will be playoff eligible too. The Watkins Glen race was originally supposed to start at 3:00 sharp, but heavy rain and lightning in the area delayed the race for one hour and forty minutes. Track-drying officials worked their butts off to make sure the course was good enough to race on and with the help of windshield whippers on the cars that also helped the race not be delayed. What made this race different than other road course races this year was that big names in motorsports like Kimi Raikkonen and Mike Rockenfeller decided to give a try driving the Next Generation car. When the green flag flew on Sunday seven different countries were represented which were Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Like every other road course, there was lots of action on the track with lead changes, drivers missing the entrance to the bus stop, and of course, crashes. For the most part, this was a tame Watkins Glen race until towards the end of the race when everyone thought Chase Elliott was going to win after dominating most of the day, but that all changed after multiple cautions towards the end put a damper on his chances. With a restart with five to go, it was a battle between Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson to see who would walk away with the victory. With the choose rule, Elliott gets to choose where he starts, and he decided to start in the outside position which put Larson in the inside position. When the green flag flew for the final restart of the day, Larson made a dramatic pass against his teammate in the first turn which is known to be a wide sweeping turn where Larson was able to hold off his teammate who dropped back to fourth by the end of the race and he also held off fellow California native AJ Allmendinger. This dramatic pass caused tension between the #5 and the #9 car where the two needed to have a private discussion with not only themselves but also their boss too. You could tell Larson felt about what he did because he did not do a burnout and apologized to Elliott on live TV. This marked Larson's second win of the season where his first was at Auto Club where he and Elliott tangled together, along with it being his second win in a row at the road course. Now the series heads to the superspeedway of Daytona for the regular season finale to determine who will make the playoffs and whose hopes will be dashed. 
Next race: Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night (8-27-2022).