Räikkönen shines, Larson wins at the Glen

Full success for Hendrick Motorsports, since in addition to Kyle Larson's victory, his teammate Chase Elliott is assured of finishing the regular season at the top of the general classification.

This 25^rd race of the season, the penultimate of the regular season began under a veritable deluge and storms causing more than two hours of delay.

Watkins Glen drowned in rain © Sean Gardner/Getty Images

The undisputed star of the meeting was of course Kimi Räikkönen, entered under the “Project 91” banner initiated by Trackhouse Racing to open the grid for a NASCAR Cup Series to the most famous European drivers. Iceman thus placed one foot on the path to F1 in NASCAR borrowed before him by illustrious champions such as Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and… Jim Clark for a single appearance in 1967. A notable absentee was, however, to be noted, Kurt Busch having an accident at Pocono having preferred forgo the last two races of the regular season in order to approach the playoffs in the best conditions.

Kimi Räikkönen broke the ice at Watkins Glen © Sean Gardner/Getty Images

From the 2^rd loop, one of the favorites, AJ Allmendinger, was cleared cleanly by Austin Cindric while two laps later Michael McDowell on fire stole the lead of the race from Chase Elliott and took off followed like his shadow by Tyler Reddick. At 8^rd lap, Chris Buescher was the first driver to opt for slick tires. While all drivers followed his lead, a Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott stood out by delaying this switch to slicks to the extreme.

From the start of the second segment, Räikkönen placed his Chevrolet Camaro in the Top 10 for the first time, where he remained without difficulty. 3 laps from the end of the section, Kimi seemed to get caught up in the game, and having nothing to lose even bet on an early stop.

The last segment was launched on a completely dry track and bright sunshine. Unfortunately, the restart was to be fatal to the Finn involved in a bad sequence which threw him into the barriers and put an end to his great race.

Kimi Räikkönen's day is over at @WGI after this incident on Lap 46. pic.twitter.com/TwfEBjlrRQ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21

With 31 laps remaining in the race, Hendrick Motorsports' strategy seemed to be paying off as Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson began to climb back to the front. 5^rd, Mike Rockenfeller wore European colors high before losing a lap due to contact. Briscoe and Chastain also neutralized each other and with 20 laps to go and Kyle Busch ruined a great race by losing contact with his Toyota Camry before hitting the rails.

At the front, Elliott and Larson were now in the lead but had to focus on controlling their fuel consumption. A kamikaze braking by Joey Hand 10 laps from the end, then a stranding in the gravel by Loris Hezemans brought them the salvation they had hoped for by causing two yellow flags, synonymous with reduced consumption, but also wild restarts. During the final restart, Kyle Larson, to stay in the lead, relied on Chase Elliott who had to give up second place to AJ Allmendinger, who returned from the Vauvert devil after his troubles at the start of the race.  

It's the restart everyone is talking about. #GoBowlingAtTheGlen pic.twitter.com/8b65wwtzpS

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21

Allmendinger put pressure on the Leader but was unable to find the opening. For the record, this Elliott / Allmendinger ranking was ultimately the same as during the Xfinity Series race contested the day before.

Kyle Larson goes from rain to champagne © Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Head to Daytona for the last round of the regular season where Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. should compete for the final qualifying spot for the playoffs... barring a last minute surprise in the form of a 16th victorious driver this season .

NASCAR rankings for Go Bowling at the Glen:

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