In a battle between two drivers with everything on the line, AJ Allmendinger held off Marcos Ambrose in breathtaking fashion to win Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen and claim an almost certain spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
In the closing laps, Allmendinger and Ambrose bumped each other, leaned on each other, raced each other side-by-side through the esses without wrecking—astoundingly—and swapped the lead before Allmendinger secured his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory with a pass in Turn 6 with just over one lap left.
The 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International gave both drivers their best chance to qualify for the Chase, and it was Allmendinger who prevailed in a two-lap battle that that was a long-time coming, thanks to three red-flag periods needed to repair safety barriers at the track.
Kurt Busch ran third, hoping during the final two laps that Ambrose and Allmendinger would take their aggression over the line and give him a chance to win. Rookie Kyle Larson kept his Chase hopes alive with a fourth-place run, and Carl Edwards came home fifth.
Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers completed the top 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th and took the series lead from pole winner Jeff Gordon, who ran 34th after losing four laps while his team diagnosed and repaired an electrical-system failure.
On the next-to-last lap, Allmendinger controlled the restart and held the lead through Turn 1, but Ambrose applied pressure up through the esses, gained ground when Allmendinger ran wide in the bus stop chicane and got past the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Chevrolet after setting up a pass with a tap at the exit from the bus stop.
But Allmendinger stayed to Ambrose’s outside through Turn 5 and leaned on the No. 9 Ford through Turn 6, gapping Ambrose down the front straight and pulling away for the win.(NASCAR Media)
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