William Byron wins at Watkins Glen International

The race at Watkins Glen was only one of two events remaining before the playoffs, and it represented an opportunity for winless drivers and teams to turn their season around.

None capitalized.

William Byron won his fifth race of the season while other drivers made mistakes and dealt with mechanical problems.

Chase Elliott is a prominent example. He entered the race as one of the favorites to win, but he finished 32nd after running out of fuel during the final stage. He went from running inside the top 10 to trying to put himself in position for the free pass.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson said over the radio that they had incorrect information after originally telling Elliott that he could go three laps after switching to his other fuel tank.

Kyle Larson had a top five car all day long, and he used it to score 12 stage points. He finished 26th after receiving a penalty for speeding on pit road. He also spun on the final lap after a battle with Austin Dillon.

Alex Bowman entered the race weekend 80 points below the cutline and in a must-win situation. He started outside of the top 10 and then he struggled with handling all day long before finishing 23rd.

Bowman also received a penalty for pitting when pit road was closed. He did not have enough fuel to complete another pace lap around the road course, so he accepted the penalty.

Daniel Suarez finished third at Indianapolis and entered Watkins Glen as a driver to watch. He finished 22nd after spinning and making light contact with the wall on Lap 5.

Dillon scored one point during stage 2 and he raced around the top 10 throughout the final stage. He finished 31st after spinning with Larson on the final turn.

Michael McDowell has a secure spot in the playoffs, but mistakes still plagued him and his team early. He received a penalty for driving through too many pit stalls on his first stop of the day. He received another penalty later in the race for crew members over the wall too soon.

McDowell’s biggest issue surfaced with 14 laps remaining. The No. 34 suddenly lost power, which sent him to the garage and led to a 36th-place finish.

While McDowell is locked into the playoffs, the other drivers with problems at Watkins Glen will only face increased pressure as they head to Daytona. Will they embrace the challenge and deliver a win, or will they deal with more setbacks in the regular-season finale?

William Byron led a race-high 66 laps and won his fifth race of the season. This win was the fifth in a row at Watkins Glen for Hendrick Motorsports, and it snapped Ford Performance’s three-week winning streak.

Denny Hamlin finished second and kept himself in contention for the regular-season championship heading to Daytona. Christopher Bell finished third. AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five.

Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth and kept himself 39 points ahead of Hamlin entering the regular-season finale. The two drivers will be the ones to watch entering Daytona as they each try to score the 15 playoff points that go to the regular-season champion.

Watkins Glen race results | Driver points after Watkins Glen

Chris Buescher finished seventh as he moved up to seventh in the regular-season standings. Tyler Reddick finished eighth one week after finishing fourth at Indianapolis.

A pair of Team Penske drivers rounded out the top 10. Ryan Blaney was ninth. Joey Logano was 10th.

Bubba Wallace finished 12th in what was a career-best performance at Watkins Glen. He scored five points in the first two stages and kept himself 32 points above the playoff cutline. Now he heads to Daytona after “finally being proud” of himself after a road course race.

William Byron won his fifth race of the season on Sunday at Watkins Glen International. This locked up more playoff points and created some momentum for the start of the postseason.

This win also secured two more playoff spots. Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick are now both locked in on points. They were both at least 56 points ahead of the driver in 16th — Bubba Wallace — which guaranteed that they will both compete for a championship.

For Keselowski, this moment has extra meaning. He achieved his goal of getting both RFK Racing cars into the playoffs. Chris Buescher secured his spot with back-to-back wins at Richmond and Michigan. Keselowski secured his spot on points.

For Harvick, he gets to compete for a championship in his final full-time Cup Series season. This is something that fellow champion Jimmie Johnson was not able to do in 2020.

William Byron entered the race weekend at Watkins Glen with only one top-five finish on a road course in the Cup Series. He has now added another at a pivotal point of the season.

Byron took the lead from Michael McDowell after the end of stage 1, and he went on to deliver a dominant performance. He won stage 2 and continued to dominate during the final stage. He went on to win after building up a three-second lead over pole-winner Denny Hamlin.

Byron now has nine career Cup Series wins. He has scored five of them this season while putting himself in position to contend for a championship.

Finishing behind Byron was Hamlin, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.

The race at Watkins Glen started well for Michael McDowell as he led laps and won a stage. It has turned worse once again.

The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford said over the radio that he was losing power and that everything had shut off. He was slow on the track after working his way back into the top 10, but he had to head down pit road.

The team continued to examine the Ford while McDowell continued to lose positions. He already had a spot in the playoffs due to his win at Indianapolis, but he could not gain any more points before the end of the day. He had to settle for a last-place finish as the team pushed the No. 34 back to the garage.

20 laps remain at Watkins Glen. William Byron still leads, but he hasn’t separated himself much from four drivers behind him.

Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs are all within three seconds of Byron. Martin Truex Jr. is four seconds back in sixth.

Hamlin has alternated between running faster laps than Byron and slowing down so much that he holds up drivers behind him.

One big mover is Michael McDowell. The stage 1 winner received his second penalty of the day under caution with fewer than 40 laps remaining in the race. This dropped him well outside of the top 10, but he quickly worked his way back to eighth.

McDowell is running out of time to contend for the win after his strong start, but he continues putting himself in position to add another top-10 finish to his season total.

Chase Elliott started outside the top 10 at Watkins Glen, but he worked his way up to seventh during the second stage with pit strategy. Now the day has taken a turn for the worse.

On Lap 55, Elliott suddenly began shaking the No. 9 Chevrolet side to side. He said over the radio that he was running on fumes.

Elliott came to a stop inside the bus stop after running out, which brought out the caution. He then had to receive a push back to pit road from a tow truck. This dropped him to 35th in the running order. He also fell one lap behind the leaders.

There were several drivers that made it to pit road after seeing Elliott slow on the track. This list includes leader William Byron and Kyle Larson. The move paid off for Byron, but Larson received a penalty for speeding on pit road.

The fourth member of Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman, had issues of his own. He had to stop for fuel and tires when pit road was closed. This resulted in another penalty for the organization.

There are 40 laps remaining at Watkins Glen, and William Byron remains in control after winning stage 2.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has a four-second lead over Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson is 4.5 seconds back in third. Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Bubba Wallace are all running top 10.

Time is running out for the winless drivers to make something happen, but there is one more factor in play. The teams still have to make their final pit stops to reach the end of the race.

As McDowell showed today and Daniel Suarez showed last week at Indianapolis, a winning car can quickly miss out on an opportunity with the slightest hiccup on pit road.

William Byron’s decision to pit one lap after the leaders has paid off. He took the lead after the end of stage 1 and he went on to win stage 2. This secured 10 points and a playoff point.

Denny Hamlin continued his strong afternoon with a second-place finish in the stage. Behind him was Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon.

Michael McDowell, who received a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes, worked his way from 17th to 12th during the second stage. He could not get past Tyler Reddick in 11th and Dillon in 10th before the end of the stage.

Byron has the most stage wins today with 19. Hamlin has 17, Gibbs has 15, Allmendinger has 12, Larson has 12 and McDowell has 10.

Michael McDowell won the opening stage at Watkins Glen and locked up a playoff point. He then made a mistake that will cost him.

The Front Row Motorsports driver went through too many pit stalls when he made his first pit stop. This resulted in a penalty and an extra trip down pit road.

McDowell fell to 17th in the running order while William Byron took the lead with a different strategy.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver stayed out on the track for one extra lap and then he blended back ahead of McDowell, Denny Hamlin and the rest of the field.

Michael McDowell’s momentum has continued with a strong performance in stage 1 at Watkins Glen.

The Front Row Motorsports driver started third, but he took the lead from Denny Hamlin on Lap 4. He then led until the end of the stage and locked up a playoff point.

William Byron ended the stage second. He was followed by Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick.

There were multiple pit strategies in play with a fuel window of just over 30 laps. The drivers in the top 10 all ran to the end of the first stage to score some points. Other drivers chose to stop before the end of the stage so that they could potentially complete the race in two stops.

This second list included Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez. Once they all made their stops, they began pushing their cars to try to make up time in clean air.

Daniel Suarez moved into the top 10 during the opening laps at Watkins Glen International. An unexpected incident led to him falling outside of the top 20.

Suarez lost control of the No. 99 in the bus stop. He hopped over the curb and then spun through the grass. He hit the inside wall with the nose of the Chevrolet while other cars passed him.

The No. 99 avoided significant damage, and he was able to get moving once again. He moved back onto the track in the 24th position. He then fell to 25th on Lap 8 after saying that he had flat-spotted his tires.

The race at Watkins Glen International is underway!

Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag and then he immediately jumped ahead of William Byron entering Turn 1. Indianapolis winner Michael McDowell then moved into second and began hounding Hamlin in the esses and the carousel.

There was aggression on the start, but the Cup drivers avoided a pileup early. They all kept moving in the right direction on the first lap.

After two laps of action, Hamlin still leads over McDowell. Byron, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez make up the rest of the top 10.

The green flag has not waved, but there are multiple drivers that have lost their positions in the running order.

According to a pre-race release from NASCAR, there are five cars that will drop to the rear of the field at the start of the race due to unapproved adjustments.

This list includes Corey Lajoie, who qualified 10th after reaching the final round of qualifying for the first time in his career. The No. 7 Chevrolet had a broken left front shock.

Joining LaJoie are Brad Keselowski (faulty ECU unit), Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Aric Almirola.

WATKINS GLEN – The Cup Series returns to Watkins Glen International for a Sunday afternoon road course race on USA Network (3 p.m. ET).

The 90-lap event at the 2.450-mile track is one of the two remaining races before the playoffs begin, and it is the last road course of the regular season.

There are three open spots above the playoff cutline after Michael McDowell won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace hold these spots.

The battle for the final playoff spots will be a prominent storyline throughout the afternoon at Watkins Glen. Will a new driver shake up the standings with a win, or will a previous winner add more playoff points before the regular-season finale?

Hendrick Motorsports has won the last four races at Watkins Glen. Chase Elliott went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. Kyle Larson then won in 2021 and 2022. NASCAR did not race at Watkins Glen in 2020.

Two Hendrick drivers are currently 80 points below the playoff cutline entering the NASCAR weekend. Elliott and Alex Bowman both need a win to reach the playoffs, and they will pursue this goal at the New York road course. They will both line up outside of the top 10 after Saturday’s qualifying session.

The last time a team won five consecutive races at a single track was Pocono in 2012-2014. Hendrick Motorsports achieved this goal with Jeff Gordon (2012), Jimmie Johnson (2013), Kasey Kahne (2013) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2014).

Follow along for updates throughout Sunday afternoon from the racetrack.