NASCAR: Chase Elliott vs. Martin Truex Jr. at Watkins Glen, Part II

For the second consecutive season, Chase Elliott held off Martin Truex Jr. to win the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

If you tuned into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International and thought perhaps this year’s running of the Go Bowling at The Glen was in a rain delay and you were rewatching last year’s race at the track, you probably weren’t alone.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, once again, held off a charging Martin Truex Jr. to win the 90-lap race around the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) Watkins Glen International road course in Watkins Glen, New York.

There is no doubt that this year’s race had many similarities to last year’s, especially the ending. But there were also a number of differences.

Let’s dig into some of the key details of this battle, including what changed and what remained the same from one year to the next.

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Elliott was still driving the #9 Chevrolet, but with primary sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts as opposed to SunEnergy1. Truex was still driving a car sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, but with no sponsorship from 5-Hour ENERGY. Additionally, he was driving the #19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, not the #78 Toyota for the now defunct Furniture Row Racing.

Last year, Elliott was seeking his first career victory in his 99th start and thus seeking to make Watkins Glen International the first track at which he won. This season, he was seeking his second victory of the season and the fifth victory of his career, and he was seeking to make this track the first track at which he won twice. Truex was seeking his fifth victory of the season in both years.

Last year, Truex entered the race as the reigning race winner. Elliott took that title away. This year, Elliott entered the race as the reigning race winner, and he retained that title. Truex entered the race as the most recent road course race winner in both years, as he is now the two-time reigning winner of the race at Sonoma Raceway.

Truex closed the gap and Elliott widened it on several occasions throughout stage three in both races, although this year, Truex did not run out of fuel before crossing the line in second place. Elliott, unlike last year, did not make a mistake going into turn one on lap 90 of 90 to nearly give up the lead to Truex.

Elliott won last year’s race after starting in third place, winning stage two and leading 52 laps. He won this year’s race after starting from the pole position, the first pole position of his career for a road course race, winning stage one and stage two and leading 80 laps.

Truex finished in second place after starting in fourth and leading four laps last year and again after starting in fourth but leading only one lap this year. He also won stage one last year.

In 2018, Elliott and Truex were running ahead of three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, with Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. In 2019, Elliott was running ahead of three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, with Truex in second, Denny Hamlin in third and Jones in fourth as the third highest Joe Gibbs Racing driver once again. In both years, Elliott and Truex completely checked out from the rest of the field.

In 2018, Elliott ran out of fuel on his cooldown lap and had teammate Jimmie Johnson give him a push. In 2019, he ran out of fuel doing the burnouts that he couldn’t do last year because he was out of fuel, so this happened.

Well @JimmieJohnson, looks like you were replaced after all. pic.twitter.com/3271zdBFV9
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 4, 2019

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With all things considered, despite several differences, the battle between Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. at the end of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International was almost identical to last year’s, which, in this day and age of competition, is pretty remarkable when you think about it.

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