Elliott led the field on the restart with five of 90 laps remaining, Larson pressuring him alongside, and as the two exited Turn 1 Larson appeared to lock up his brakes and drifted wide, which forced Elliott to take avoiding action and allowed Larson to move into the lead.
Larson then had to hold off a furious challenge from A.J. Allmendinger to take the win by 0.882 seconds.
It’s just the second win of the 2022 season for defending NASCAR Cup champion Larson, his other triumph coming at Fontana back in February. The win is also the 18th of Larson’s NASCAR Cup career.
But there was no fairy-tale debut for 2007 Formula 1 world champion Raikkonen, as the Finn was involved in an accident on lap 45 which dropped him out of the action.
As the pack went through the inner loop on the lap 45 restart, Austin Dillon spun off after contact with Ross Chastain and behind them Raikkonen veered off to the left to avoid contact but smashed into the tyre barrier.
The wreck brought an end to the first career Cup start for Raikkonen, and he was eventually credited with a 37th-place finish.
Fellow former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat also struggled at Watkins Glen, failing to make the finish and classified 36th.
The other high profile European import for the race, 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and 2013 DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller, enjoyed a better time of it by finishing on the lead lap and coming home in 30th place on his NASCAR Cup debut.
Behind the fight for victory, Joey Logano ended up third having also got by Elliott late on, who still clinched the regular season championship at Watkins Glen, with Daniel Suarez completing the top five.
Michael McDowell recorded his best finish since Pocono with sixth place, ahead of playoff contenders Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell, as Chris Buescher and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR heads to Daytona for the final regular season race on 27th August before the playoffs begin at Darlington on 4th September.
NASCAR Cup Watkins Glen – Race Results