Larson moves Elliott to win Watkins Glen Cup race

Elliott led the way and had the inside lane on a restart with five of 90 laps remaining with Larson alongside him.

As the two exited Turn 1, Larson appeared to lock up his brakes and drifted to the left, which forced Elliott wide and allowed Larson to move into the lead.

Then, in what seemed to be a repeat of the finish of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, Larson had to hold off a furious challenge from A.J. Allmendinger and finally cleared him by 0.882 seconds to take the victory.

It’s just the second win of the 2022 season for Larson, the 2021 season champion. His previous victory came at Auto Club Speedway, the second race of the year.

The win is also the 18th of Larson’s career.

“I knew that was kind of my only opportunity. I’m not proud of it. But being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out,” Larson said. “But when it gets to late in the race, it’s definitely risky.

“I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit. The restarts kept me in it, kept our team in it.

“Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen, get some more bonus points going into the playoffs, which we haven’t had many of those this year.”

Larson said he expected at some point to talk out the late-race contact with Elliott.

“I’m sure, yeah, we would ultimately have a conversation. We have a competition meeting tomorrow,” Larson said. “I mean, I think if I was in his shoes, I would understand the risk that I’m taking choosing left lane also.

“Again, like I said, I’m not proud of it, but it’s what I felt like I had to do to get the win.”

Joey Logano ended up third, Elliott finished fourth and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Erik Jones.

Sunday’s race was the most internationally diverse in Cup Series history with seven different countries represented, including former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen was involved in an accident on Lap 45 and was credited with a 37th-place finish.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap cars pit with Logano the first off pit road.

McDowell stayed on the track and inherited the lead. On the restart on Lap 45, McDowell was followed by Elliott, Joey…