{"id":21067,"date":"2018-08-05T17:41:52","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T22:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=21067"},"modified":"2018-08-05T19:30:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T00:30:40","slug":"nascar-sunday-watkins-glen-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/05\/nascar-sunday-watkins-glen-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Sunday Watkins Glen Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 If there were a \u201cDriver of the Race\u201d award in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a>, it would be difficult to give it to anyone other than Chase Elliott<\/strong>, who held off reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr.<\/strong> over the final 32 laps to win Sunday\u2019s Go Bowling at the Glen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Crunchy Mint Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kyle Busch, however, could lay his own claim, after fighting his way back to third place, overcoming a fueling snafu on pit road during his final stop under caution on Lap 56.<\/p>\n

Busch left pit road with the lead after the stop, only to learn that his team had gotten only eight gallons of racing fuel into his tank. He returned to pit road a lap later to complete the fueling process and restarted 31st <\/sup>on Lap 59.<\/p>\n

By Lap 66 Busch had cracked the top 10, and throughout the closing laps, he worked his way toward the front, ultimately passing Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez for third place.<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds familiar,\u201d Busch said of the glitch that perhaps cost him the race. \u201cEvery year we come here, we have a fast car and fail to execute, whether that’s just called bad luck or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we had a lug nut get stuck in the caliper. This year we had fueling problems. It never ceases to amaze me. Nothing surprises me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch led 31 of the 90 laps, second only to Elliott\u2019s 52. But after the blown pit stop, Busch had to work harder fighting his way through the field than Elliott did in keeping Truex behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a heck of a lot harder than it should have been,\u201d Busch said. \u201cBut that was the predicament we were put in, and we had to go work. I certainly gave (team owner) Joe (Gibbs) his money’s worth today, maybe even a couple more races.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a fast race car. I can’t say enough about our guys, our shop, everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) engines, everything that gave us that opportunity. We just failed to capitalize, so it’s a disappointing day, no question.\u201d<\/p>\n

ERIK JONES, DANIEL SUAREZ SCORE TOP FIVES AT WATKINS GLEN<\/b><\/p>\n

The sophomore class at Joe Gibbs Racing is coming of age.<\/p>\n

Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in Sunday\u2019s Go Bowling at the Glen. That marked the second straight event in which the two second-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers have scored top-five results.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 buyatoyota.com lToyota, leads Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 PPG Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jones already has a spot in the Playoffs, thanks to his victory at Daytona in July. Suarez is fighting for a Playoff berth, currently three spots out of the postseason at 18th<\/sup> in the series standings.<\/p>\n

But both drivers have seen a decided uptick in their respective performances of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to keep doing,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019ve only had one bad race since Daytona, and that was New Hampshire. Two top fives in a row for us, so we need to keep going that way, and hopefully we can contend for a win at Michigan (next Sunday).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the goal. We want to win another race. I know we can do it. If we\u2019re this close on a road course, I know we can do it on an oval, so we\u2019ll keep working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a measure of Suarez\u2019s improvement that he could downplay his fourth-place result at the 2.45-mile road course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a decent race,\u201d Suarez said. \u201cI felt like we had a top-five, top-seven car or so. The car was good, but not extremely good. Definitely, the 18 (Kyle Busch) and the 20 (Jones) were better, but it was a good race.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolid effort for my team. We\u2019re getting close. This is what we need, to run top five every week, and if we continue to do this, I\u2019m going to be a happy boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE NUMBERS LINE UP FOR FATHER AND SON IN CHASE ELLIOTT\u2019S WIN<\/b><\/p>\n

Driving the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Chase Elliott won his first monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in his 99th<\/sup> start.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet, poses with the winner\u0092s decal on his car in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

His father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, won his 1988 championship in Harry Melling\u2019s Ford\u2014also bearing the No. 9.<\/p>\n

The numerology wasn\u2019t lost on the elder Elliott, who was spotting for his son on the backstretch at Watkins Glen and actually beat his son to Victory Lane, because Chase ran out of gas after taking the checkered flag and needed a push from teammate Jimmie Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk about numbers\u2014I think this was his 99th start, correct?\u201d Bill Elliott said. \u201cThe 9 car wins the 99th start. I won my first Cup race at a road course in Riverside. The only Xfinity race I ever won was right here on a road course, and lo and behold, he wins his first on a road course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s kind of\u2014you don’t think about these things until kind of after the race, but it’s kind of weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott could have added that the last three victories for the No. 9 car have come at Watkins Glen\u2014the previous two by road course ace Marcos Ambrose in 2011 and 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 If there were a \u201cDriver of the Race\u201d award in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, it would be difficult to give it to anyone other than Chase Elliott, who held off reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. over the final 32 laps to win Sunday\u2019s Go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":21026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,472],"class_list":["post-21067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-watkins-glen-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/WGI_MENCS_Elliott_WinnerSticker_080518.jpg?fit=3237%2C2185","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5tN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21067"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21075,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067\/revisions\/21075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}