Chase Elliott was clearly the driver to beat Sunday at Watkins Glen International, where he scored his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup victory a year ago.
Elliott, who started on the pole, won the first two stages and led 80 of the event's 90 laps. But as the race came down to the finish, there was a familiar driver in his rearview mirror — Martin Truex Jr., the same driver who pursued him to the finish line a year ago.
Truex closed on Elliott's bumper several times in the closing laps, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver hit all his marks to hold him off and win the GoBowling at The Glen.
What. A. Race.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 4, 2019
Retweet to congratulate @chaseelliott on his second win of 2019! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/wwGRqJjz6N
It's Elliott's second victory this season, and career win No. 5.
"That was freakin' awesome," Elliott told NBCSN afterward. "I just stayed mistake free. Martin was a little quicker those last two runs but track position was king."
"I tried to do all I could. Chase just did an excellent job," Truex said. "I just tried to force a mistake but he hit his marks."
Elliott becomes just the fifth driver to win two straight races at Watkins Glen, joining Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose.
Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney
The event featured some intense racing throughout the field. In one sequence in the third stage, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace rubbed fenders, and Wallace sent Busch spinning.
Kyle Busch rolled out of bed ready to rumble. First William Byron, now its Bubba Wallace. #NASCAR @WISH_TV pic.twitter.com/kOf7qQAErx
— Charlie Clifford (@cliffWISH8) August 4, 2019
Busch radioed his team, "I don't know how (Bubba Wallace) still gets to race. If I had done that, I'd be parked."
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup results at Watkins Glen
1. Chase Elliott
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Erik Jones
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Matt DiBenedetto
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Kyle Larson
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Kurt Busch
11. Kyle Busch
12. Aric Almirola
13. Chris Buescher
14. Alex Bowman
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16. Michael McDowell
17. Daniel Suarez
18. Paul Menard
19. Jimmie Johnson
20. Clint Bowyer
21. William Byron
22. David Ragan
23. Joey Logano
24. Matt Tifft
25. Ryan Newman
26. Parker Kligerman
27. Ross Chastain
28. Bubba Wallace
29. Landon Cassill
30. Ty Dillon
31. Austin Dillon
32. Josh Bilicki
33. Cody Ware
34. Corey LaJoie
35. Daniel Hemric
36. Ryan Preece
37. Reed Sorenson