WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Chase Elliott has won the pole for the NASCAR Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
Elliott, the defending race winner, was the fastest Saturday in both rounds of qualifying and beat Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron with a fast lap of 127.297 mph around the 2.45-mile road course.
Kyle Busch qualified third, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10. Michael McDowell was 11th and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 12th.
Clint Bowyer, in the hunt for the final playoff spot, was 13th followed by Erik Jones and Bowyer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Kevin Harvick. Points leader Joey Logano will start 21st.
XFINITY: Austin Cindric won the road course at Watkins Glen, holding off veteran AJ Allmendinger in the final two laps.
It was the first series win for the 20-year-old of Penske Racing, and he outran one of the best road racers in NASCAR.
Allmendinger moved out to a big lead with five laps in the 82-lap event, but Cindric, with fresher tires, slowly began closing the gap and was within two car lengths with three laps to go. He closed to the back bumper of the No. 10 Chevy in the inner loop but Allmendinger held his ground.
On Lap 81 Cindric tried again going up through the esses and dogged Allmendinger coming out of the carousel turn, a sweeping left-hander, then made the pass.
Not finished yet, Allmendinger bumped Cindric back, forced him wide, and briefly retook the lead before going wide into the final turn, allowing Cindric to recover. He made it through the tough first turn and up through the esses as Allmendinger finally faded, finishing 1.16 seconds behind.
Christopher Bell was third, Justin Allgaier fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.
Kyle Busch won the pole, his first at The Glen in 11 tries in the series, with Cindric alongside on the front row.
The race was Busch’s to lose, and he lost it near the midpoint of the race around the speedy 2.45-mile natural terrain layout. Busch passed Cup regular Blaney for the lead in the inner loop on Lap 35, locked up his left front, and slid off course, forcing him to the pits and then the garage, his day over with a broken part.
FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen produced a near-perfect lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix to take the first pole position of his career in Budapest, Hungry.
The Red Bull driver set a track record with 1 minute, 14.958 seconds and then beat it again with 1:14.572.
Valtteri Bottas qualified in second place ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, the five-time F1 champion who was chasing a record-extending 88th career pole and record-equaling seventh at the Hungaroring circuit to match F1 great Michael Schumacher.
Leclerc, who took his first career pole in Bahrain in March, placed fourth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Vettel. The Ferraris were quickest in the first sector of qualifying but both tailed off.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly qualified sixth.
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