CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was a true Sunday drive for William Byron as he coasted to a win at Watkins Glen that seemed well in hand for most of the race.
Byron led 65 of the race's 90 laps and held a comfortable lead over Denny Hamlin for much of the day. The only time Byron found himself out of the top spot in the second half of the race was when the race's only caution flag fell during green flag pit stops. He shuffled back in front after everyone came to pit road, though.
That one caution came on lap 55 when Chase Elliott ran out of fuel on the track. The incident trapped Elliott a lap down the rest of the race and relegated him from running in the top 10 to 32nd. Elliott remains out of the playoffs and is in a must-win situation heading into next week's race at Daytona.
Another driver in a similar position to Elliott is Daniel Suárez, who typically does well on road courses but spun on lap five while running in the top 10 and was forced to settle for 22nd. Suárez sits 43 points behind Bubba Wallace for 16th in the standings but essentially needs to win to get the spot.
Michael McDowell, last week's underdog winner at Indianapolis, challenged for the win early on but a pair of pit road penalties thwarted his chances before an engine problem ended his day early in last place.
Those were some of the race's only highlights on a relatively mistake-free day for the Cup series competitors. A wreck on the last turn of the last lap sent Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson spinning while running outside of the top 20, but by then it removed any relevancy for the race.
Byron's fifth win of the season was easily his most dominant. His previous wins this season came at Las Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington, and Atlanta and came after a flurry of lead changes or other drivers' mishaps. Watkins Glen was not the case, though, as Byron won in respectable fashion.
Hamlin finished second, Christopher Bell finished third, A.J. Allmendinger finished fourth, and Ty Gibbs finished fifth.
Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick finished outside of the top 10 but both clinched a spot in the playoffs by locking up enough points on Sunday. Only one spot remains open during the regular season finale at Daytona next week. Wallace holds a 32-point lead over Gibbs. Only two drivers, Gibbs and Suárez, have a mathematical possibility - albeit unlikely - chance of getting the spot without a win. The rest of the non-locked-in drivers, including Elliott, Allmendinger, and Alex Bowman, can only make it in with a win.
The next NASCAR Cup Series race is the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.