On a beautiful, warm, sunny day, Sunday's race at Watkins Glen was run under a dark cloud following the death of a young racer the night before at a nearby dirt track.  Tony Stewart was involved in a crash that killed 20-year old Kevin Ward, Jr.  As a result, Stewart pulled out of Sunday's race and issued the a statement saying, "there aren't enough words" to describe his sadness over the tragedy.  No charges were placed against Stewart but the investigation was continuing.

It was the second straight year Stewart missed the race at the Glen where he's a five-time winner.  A J Allmendinger emerged as the winner, his first career victory after battling Marcos Ambrose over the final two laps.  Ambrose was looking for a weekend sweep after winning the Nationwide race the day before.  Ambrose settled for second place.

Following Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson and Carl Edwards completed the Top 5.

The race was red-flagged for nearly an hour and a half after a violent crash involving five cars that destroyed the cars of Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell.  McDowell's car ended up on top of a guard rail and that whole barrier had to be completely replaced.

Jeff Gordon had the pole and led the first 29 laps, but ended up 34th after an electrical problem knocked him out.

The series moves on to Michigan next Sunday.

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