Unfortunate Kimi Raikkonen crashes out of NASCAR comeback

It started very well, possibly aided by his experience racing in the rain. The World Champion moved his way up to 19th in the first stage, and really settled in after that. Raikkonen spent most of Stage 2 inside the top-ten, but it all came to an end as the final stage began.

On Lap 45 of the race, Austin Dillon spun in the bus stop, and trailing cars began to manoeuvre to avoid him. Kimi was on the inside of a pack of cars, and was punted into the tire barrier. His No. 91 TrackHouse Racing Chevrolet suffered too much damage to continue, and his day was done.

The 37th place finish was not representative of his performance. 

"I thought I had a good line there but everybody seemed to come to the left. Unfortunately, I had no time to react," Raikkonen said. "The first impact, somebody hit the tire or the wheel directly and the steering wheel spun. There is something wrong with the wrist, but that's how it goes. It was good fun today. I felt more confidence all the time and had some good battles and yeah, it's a shame. The car felt like it had a lot of speed in there but that's how it goes sometimes."

Kyle Larson ended his winless streak on Sunday at Watkins Glen after running into teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps remaining.

The five-lap shootout set up an incredible show, with the two teammates on the front row. Larson got into Turn 1 a little too deep and locked up his front wheels, and slid into the right side of Elliott. That pushed him off course and the driver of the No. 9 lost a couple of positions, and was not able to recover. Larson ended his 23-race winless streak, but sounded remorseful after claiming the win.

"I knew that was kind of my only opportunity," Larson explained. "I’m not proud of it, but being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. When it gets to late in the race, it’s definitely risky. I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit. The restarts kept me in it, kept our team in it."

"Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen, get some more bonus points going into the playoffs, which we haven’t had many of those this year. We have a competition meeting tomorrow. I think if I was in his (Chase) shoes, I would understand the risk that I'm taking choosing the left lane. Like I said, I'm not proud of it, but it's what I felt like I had to do to get the win."

Elliott took the high road, congratulating Larson and the team on the win. "Huge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the No. 5 team. Seriously, they deserve it. Always good to see HMS win. The boss deserves all the great wins that come for this company."

Starting on pole and finishing 4th, Chase appeared to be more animated when talking with Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon after getting out of the car. He kept his composure though, which was not an easy task given the situation.

Larson and Elliott battling for a win at Watkins Glen has become a theme. The two Hendrick Motorsports drivers have combined to win the last four races at the Glen, as Chevrolet continues to dominate the road courses this season. Chevy has won 15 of the last 16 road course races, including 11 straight.

Although Larson only led five laps today, they were the most important ones. His 0.882-second margin of victory marked his first win since Fontana, which was the weekend following the Daytona 500. This is Kyle’s 18th career Cup win, and gives him some much-needed momentum heading into the playoffs.

If there is any consolation prize for Elliott, it is that he clinched the regular season championship today, earning another 15 bonus points when the postseason begins in two weeks.

It was a weekend sweep for Larson, who won the Xfinity Series race yesterday in similar fashion. After inheriting the lead, Larson had to fend off one of the best road course racers in AJ Allmendinger. The same situation played out in today's race, and he was able to fend off the Kaulig Racing driver both times. It was still a great result for Allmendinger, especially after he was taken out by Austin Cindric at the beginning of the race.

"Obviously, Kyle drove it in quite deep to get the lead there on Chase and I was getting shoved in the corner. I was getting run into so hard that I was happy just to keep it on the race track and not have anybody next to me off the corner. Proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. This is absolutely one of the most fun cars I have ever driven in my life. I was hustling it and it was fast. To finish second in a Cup race in your first year as a team isn’t bad. But God, when you are that close, it’s disappointing."

Joey Logano managed to stay out of trouble, earning a 3rd place finish for Ford. The Team Penske driver earned more playoff points by winning Stage 2 of the race. Daniel Suarez had a quiet but solid day as he collected another top-five finish for TrackHouse Racing. Michael McDowell led 14 laps and was strong all day but was not able to get through the traffic on the final restart and ended up in 6th. Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and Erik Jones rounded out the top-ten on Sunday.

"It was disappointing," McDowell said of his finish. "I don't think we quite had enough for Elliott or Larson. I tried to hold them off as long as I could, they just had a bit of pace on me. They were pushing me hard enough that I was getting wide and making mistakes. It is just disappointing. We've got to win to get into the playoffs, but I am proud of everybody at Front Row. We had a fast car and we were in the hunt, it just wasn't quite enough."

The battle for the final playoff spot will be decided next week at Daytona. Neither Ryan Blaney or Martin Truex Jr were able to secure their spot by winning today. Blaney holds a 25-point edge over Truex, should a new winner not take the checkered flag next weekend.

One of these two drivers will miss the playoffs, and both of them could miss out if one of 13 drivers is able to win Saturday night at Daytona. Ironically enough, Blaney and Truex started on the same row, and finished next to each other in 23rd and 24th.

It was another frustrating day for Kyle Busch. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver made his way to the front of the field early in the race, and battled for the lead. Busch was given a pit road penalty during his stop at the conclusion of Stage 2, which sent him back to 30th. After fighting his way back through the field, Kyle spun with 17 laps remaining after he got loose on top of the curbing. He ultimately finished 32nd after having to make another pit stop for repairs.

There were several other championship contenders that were never a factor in today's race. Denny Hamlin and his best friend Ross Chastain were 20th and 21st. William Byron was just behind them in 22nd. Chase Briscoe finished 25th despite winning the first stage of the race. It was also a tough afternoon for 23XI Racing as Ty Gibbs finished 26th and Bubba Wallace came home in 35th.

The start of the race was delayed by nearly two hours after lightning and heavy rain developed around the track.

Today’s race was oozing with drama at every turn, but that will pale in comparison to what comes next. The last remaining race to determine the playoff grid takes place at Daytona, where anything can (and usually does) happen. The ultimate wildcard awaits. Coverage for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 begins at 7:00 ET on NBC.