Going into last year’s event at Watkins Glen, the point standings looked very different compared to the current points. Kyle Busch had a 176 point lead over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick were also in the top-12 but neither is close this year.

Busch and Earnhardt led the field to the green flag for the Centurion Boats at The Glen after qualifying was rained out and the field was set by points. Earnhardt took over the lead on lap two and Busch was shuffled back to fourth place behind Earnhardt and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

A handful of drivers spun out during the early laps of the race including David Reutimann, P.J. Jones, Patrick Carpentier and Reed Sorenson, while Marcos Ambrose was the man on the move; he started 43rd and was up to 29th by lap 15. Green flag pit stops began around lap 20 and when the cycle was over Busch was back to the lead followed by Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was shuffled back to sixth.

At the halfway point of the race, Ambrose was up to 16th place in one of the fastest cars on the track.

On lap 48 the first caution flag flew because of debris on the track caused by a trip in the sand near the start/finish line by Sam Hornish Jr. Joe Nemechek got the Lucky Dog award while many of the leaders hit pit road. Busch stayed out and led the field back to the green flag on lap 51.

Four laps after the restart, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Busch and Stewart made a deal to get Stewart five bonus points for leading a lap, and they swapped spots briefly before Busch regained the lead.

Final pit stops began on lap 57 with Busch and the other leaders who did not pit under caution. Near the end of the pit cycle, Johnson was in the lead with Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and “ringer” Boris Said behind him. Johnson finally pulled off to pit on lap 61, giving the top spot to Earnhardt who still had not made a pit stop.

On lap 64, Travis Kvapil took a detour through the gravel which left debris on the track and brought out caution number two. Earnhardt finally pulled into the pits with numerous lapped cars.

Busch led the field to the green with teammate Stewart, Newman, Truex Jr. and hard-charger Ambrose on his rear bumper. Earnhardt restarted in 31st after his yellow flag pit stop.

Caution No. 3 came out on lap 78 when spun in turn 1 and stalled in traffic. Luckily, everyone else managed to avoid him and his teammate Hornish gave him a push when the car refused to fire.

Busch once again led the field to the green on lap 82 and Juan Montoya had made his way into the top-5. One lap later the caution came out again following a huge wreck involving ten cars. Michael McDowell spun Gilliland coming out of turn 11 near the entrance of pit road. Bobby Labonte made hard contact with Gilliland and limped away from the wreckage and was later transported to a local hospital. Hornish was caught up in the melee and slammed into the water barrels before the pit road wall forcing NASCAR to display the red flag until the track could be cleaned.

Over a half an hour later, the cars were finally rolling again and the green flag flew on lap 86 with Busch still in the lead for the final four laps of the event. Busch took the checkered flag for his 8th and final victory last season. His teammate Stewart finished second followed by Ambrose, Montoya and Truex.

Eventual Sprint Cup Series Champion Johnson rallied after a flat tire for a 7th place finish and Earnhardt crossed the stripe 22nd which cost him two spots in the point standings. Busch’s win extended his points lead to 242 points over new second place driver Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth’s effort got him into the top-12 and knocked Clint Bowyer down to 13th place.

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