On the other hand, Denny Hamlin found himself clashing with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson coming into Turn 2, and crashing into the wall as the cars went three abreast.
As a result Hamlin has fallen below the playoffs elimination line, as Joey Logano sits in first at the top of the standings.
Hamlin was not the only star to endure a nightmare outing at Watkins Glen, with Ryan Blaney suffering a lap one crash.
After coming into contact with Brad Keselowski, Blaney’s car was left with severe damage, however NASCAR officials did not allow his team to attempt any repairs leading to the star blasting their decision.
“Give us a chance to fix it, how are they going to dictate if we’re done or not? They have no idea the damage,” Blaney said to the media after the race.
They said because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box we’re done, but if you have four flats you get towed back to the pit box, you can’t drive it back.
“So, I don’t know what’s going on, why they won’t even give us a shot to work on it, but I don’t agree with it.
“I don’t even know what happened honestly, stacked up, I caught someone on the left front and it completely broke the steering arm.”
“I don’t know if we could have fixed it but that’s the frustrating part, just don’t even give us a chance you just end our day and you’re not letting us get to look at it before it’s in the garage? That just, stinks.