WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – A myriad of different strategies and a late caution led to a chaotic end to the second stage of Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen Int’l, won by Paul Menard.
Menard led the final 16 laps of the stage and held off Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski for his first NASCAR XFINITY Series stage win of the year.
Though Daniel Hemric and Cole Custer led the field back to green for a lap 24 restart, the real action came immediately after going into Turn 1, when Kevin Harvick spun on entry to the corner and collected teammate Custer in the process.
That allowed Menard to take over the top spot from Hemric, a position he held through a caution with six to go before the second stage break, when Stephen Young lost a motor on the frontstretch and dropped fluid on the track.
The incident set up a two-lap dash to the stage break, in which Logano charged past Keselowski for second coming into Turn 7 while Menard ran off to the green-checkered flag by .739 of a second.
After a spin while leading in the first stage, Busch rallied as low as 28th to cross the line fourth, just ahead of points leader Elliott Sadler.
Justin Allgaier, Blake Koch, Brandon Jones, Erik Jones and Hemric completed the points-scoring drivers in the top 10.
After their early troubles, Custer rebounded to cross the line 16th at the end of the second stage, while Harvick was a distant 27th after a pair of uncontrolled tires on his pit stop under the Young caution.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
Follow RCO on Twitter: @RaceChaserNews
