Elliott holds on at The Glen for first Cup race win

Chase Elliott has seen off a final lap threat from 2017 champion Martin Truex Jnr to win for the first time at NASCAR Cup Series level, at Watkins Glen.

Elliott started the 90th and final lap of the New York state road course with a mistake at Turn 1, running wide over the exit kerb and allowing Truex Jnr to get right up behind the #9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

The 22-year-old eased away slightly from Truex Jnr before the second-placed #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota just about hit the bottom of the fuel tank.

Elliott’s lead blew out to 7.560s at the finish line but Truex Jnr had enough fuel to coast home another 12.466s ahead of series leader Kyle Busch.

Truex Jnr had inherited the Stage 1 win when his crew chose to pit #78 after the green/white chequered flag.

Kyle Busch headed the field at the restart but soon came under pressure from Elliott, who was third under yellow.

Elliott got by the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Lap 27 and went on to take out the stage.

He stayed out on track for the start of the final stage but relinquished first position to Kyle Busch at The Esses.

A Caution came on Lap 55 when Matt DiBenedetto’ #32 Go Fas Racing Ford stopped on-track, but Kyle Busch continued to lead from Elliott out of pit lane.

However, #18 did not take on enough fuel and Kyle Busch had to return to pit lane, handing the ascendancy back to Elliott.

Truex Jnr jumped from fourth to second on the restart lap, Lap 59, and while he stalked Elliott for the rest of the race he couldn’t fashion an overtake on the SunEnergy1 Chev.

The win for Elliott came in his 99th Cup Series race and with legendary father Bill, who will compete in the Xfinity Series race at Road America in a fortnight, as spotter.

Kyle Busch dropped to 31st with that unplanned pit stop but stormed back to finish third and actually increase his lead in the regular season, which now has only four races left.

Another two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas in Daniel Suarez (#19) and Erik Jones (#20) rounded out the top five.

Chip Ganassi Racing team-mates Kyle Larson (#42 Chevrolet) and Jamie McMurray (#1 Chevrolet) took sixth and seventh, ahead of William Byron (#24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet).

Kurt Busch, who had only qualified 21st anyway, started second-last after his #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford failing post-qualifying inspections.

He was the first of the Blue Ovals at the end despite fading from second at the restart to finish ninth, one position in front of team-mate Kevin Harvick (#4 Ford).

Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) finished 13th.

Round 23 is the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 10-12 (local time).

Race highlights

Results: Go Bowling at the Glen, Watkins Glen International

Pos	Num	Driver	Make	Laps	Led	Status
1	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	90	52	Running
2	78	Martin Truex Jnr	Toyota	90	4	Running
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	90	31	Running
4	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	90	0	Running
5	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	90	0	Running
6	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
7	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
8	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
9	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	90	0	Running
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	90	0	Running
11	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	90	0	Running
12	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	90	0	Running
13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	90	2	Running
14	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
15	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jnr	Ford	90	0	Running
17	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	90	0	Running
18	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	90	0	Running
19	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
20	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
21	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
22	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	90	0	Running
23	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
24	96	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	90	0	Running
25	43	Bubba Wallace	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
26	38	David Ragan	Ford	89	0	Running
27	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
28	21	Paul Menard	Ford	89	0	Running
29	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	89	0	Running
30	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	89	1	Running
31	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	88	0	Running
32	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	77	0	Suspension
33	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	75	0	Running
34	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	73	0	Running
35	23	Spencer Gallagher	Toyota	73	0	Running
36	51	Josh Bilicki	Ford	69	0	Electrical
37	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	0	Crash

Standings

Pos	Driver	Pts	Gap	Starts	Wins	Playoff pts
1	Kyle Busch	934		22	6	35
2	Kevin Harvick	864	-70	22	6	33
3	Martin Truex Jnr	813	-121	22	4	27
4	Kurt Busch	705	-229	22	0	2
5	Clint Bowyer	703	-231	22	2	10
6	Joey Logano	691	-243	22	1	7
7	Brad Keselowski	670	-264	22	0	4
8	Kyle Larson	660	-274	22	0	0
9	Denny Hamlin	650	-284	22	0	2
10	Ryan Blaney	639	-295	22	0	4
11	Chase Elliott	619	-315	22	1	8
12	Aric Almirola	602	-332	22	0	1
13	Erik Jones	572	-362	22	1	5
14	Jimmie Johnson	563	-371	22	0	0
15	Alex Bowman	523	-411	22	0	0
16	Ricky Stenhouse Jnr	461	-473	22	0	2
17	Paul Menard	451	-483	22	0	1
18	Daniel Suarez	434	-500	22	0	0
19	Ryan Newman	431	-503	22	0	0
20	William Byron	427	-507	22	0	0
21	Austin Dillon	412	-522	22	1	5
22	Jamie McMurray	410	-524	22	0	0
23	AJ Allmendinger	360	-574	22	0	1
24	Chris Buescher	345	-589	22	0	0
25	Bubba Wallace	331	-603	22	0	0
26	Michael McDowell	331	-603	22	0	0
27	David Ragan	319	-615	22	0	0
28	Kasey Kahne	312	-622	22	0	0
29	Ty Dillon	293	-641	22	0	0
30	Matt DiBenedetto	238	-696	22	0	0
31	Trevor Bayne	185	-749	14	0	0
32	Matt Kenseth	117	-817	8	0	0
33	Gray Gaulding	113	-821	17	0	0
34	Landon Cassill	103	-831	15	0	0
35	Cole Whitt	90	-844	10	0	0
36	DJ Kennington	82	-852	7	0	0
37	Corey LaJoie	75	-859	12	0	0
38	Jeffrey Earnhardt	69	-865	8	0	0
39	Brendan Gaughan	49	-885	3	0	0
40	Reed Sorenson	41	-893	9	0	0
41	Harrison Rhodes	23	-911	5	0	0
42	Kyle Weatherman	16	-918	3	0	0
43	Mark Thompson	15	-919	1	0	0
44	Chris Cook	6	-928	1	0	0
45	Tomy Drissi	5	-929	1	0	0
46	Blake Jones	4	-930	1	0	0
47	Derrike Cope	4	-930	2	0	0
48	Danica Patrick	2	-932	1	0	0
49	Cody Ware	1	-933	2	0	0
50	Justin Marks	0	-934	2	0	0
51	David Gilliland	0	-934	1	0	0
52	Ray Black Jnr	0	-934	1	0	0
53	Ross Chastain	0	-934	20	0	0
54	JJ Yeley	0	-934	6	0	0
55	Parker Kligerman	0	-934	3	0	0
56	Timothy Peters	0	-934	1	0	0
57	Cole Custer	0	-934	2	0	0
58	Joey Gase	0	-934	3	0	0
59	Timmy Hill	0	-934	9	0	0