Chase Elliott said last week after his third-place finish at Martinsville Speedway that he felt his day to win was coming.
It arrived Sunday in the Lone Star State.
Elliott broke a 42-race winless streak by holding off Ross Chastain in double overtime to win the NASCAR Cup Series’ caution-filled AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
Elliott and Denny Hamlin restarted on the front row twice in the final laps of regulation, but Hamlin brought out the 14th caution in Turn 4 while outside of Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet.
After Harrison Burton’s wreck caused the 15th caution, Elliott restarted and won a drag race down the backstretch with Chastain, who also wrecked in the process to wave the final yellow flag en route to finishing 32nd. That earned Elliott the victory under caution in the 276-lap race, the season’s ninth event.
“It couldn’t feel any better,” said a relieved Elliott, who won for the first time at Texas in his 14th start. “I couldn’t be more grateful for this journey and kind of the path that hasn’t always been fun. (Our team has) been working really hard together.”
The six-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver said the track, which produced 15 cautions, was difficult, including navigating Turn 4 that claimed the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin.
“This track is so sketchy,” he said. “I haven’t seen a replay of Denny and us, but I don’t think I did anything crazy. … I just had to run for it. I don’t think I did anything to crash him.”
The victory was the 19th of Elliott’s career and first since he won at Talladega on Oct. 2, 2022.
Brad Keselowski came in second, with William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez rounding out the top five.
In the NASCAR Cup Series’ lone stop at the 1.5-mile track, Kyle Larson started from the point and set out to prove that he was as good as his hot lap in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet dominated most of Stage 1, only giving up the lead briefly to teammate Elliott after pitting. He then got back to the front to win the 80-lap segment over Christopher Bell and Hamlin.
The only incident occurred when seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who wrecked during Saturday’s practice, looped his car while working his way through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 50.
Ryan Blaney, Austin Hill, Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher decided not to stop and led the restart for the 85-lap Stage 2.
However, as dominant as Larson seemingly was, he could not escape mechanical failure, as his right rear wheel came off on the frontstretch under caution. NASCAR held the Chevrolet on pit road for a two-lap penalty.
Larson got one lap back when Michael McDowell wrecked hard in Turn 4 after racing side-by-side with Chastain with 23 laps left in Stage 2.
Chastain went on to win the segment’s bonus point in his first stage win of 2024.
Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota soon worked its way around Burton’s No. 21 Ford with 88 circuits remaining.
–Field Level Media
