Contested over 90 laps on the 2.45-mile (4.023  km) road course, it was the twenty-second race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top five.

This was the first NASCAR race since the 1998 NAPA 500 without 5-Time Watkins Glen winner Tony Stewart on the grid.

Watkins Glen International is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Sonoma Raceway.

The race was scheduled to start at 1:18 p.m. EDT, Marcos Ambrose led the field to the green flag on lap 1.