Chase Elliott ends 42-race winless streak with OT victory at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — Chase Elliott needed to get by just a few additional laps after 18 months since final profitable a race.

Elliott pulled forward and cleared Ross Chastain on the primary lap after the second restart in extra time Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, ending a 42-race winless streak for NASCAR’s hottest driver.

“Quite a lot of issues went on our means at present. I am not naive to that,” Elliott stated. “You need to be within the combine and you have to be up entrance to even have issues go your means. And we have been shut sufficient to do this.”

The race ended on the sixteenth warning after Elliott had taken the white flag for the 276th lap in a race scheduled for 267 laps. Chastain obtained bumped from behind by defending race winner William Byron, who completed third and was simply behind Brad Keselowski when the ultimate yellow flag got here out.

It was the fifth win this season for Hendrick Motorsports, the 306th for NASCAR’s winningest workforce, however the first for Elliott within the No. 9 Chevrolet since Talladega in October 2022.

“The longer it goes and the extra methods you discover to both not run good or lose races, it could actually make it harder,” Elliott stated. “It has been an especially necessary factor to me … to attempt to climb this mountain once more collectively and attempt to get again to the place we have to be as a bunch.”

Elliott and Denny Hamlin have been on the entrance of the sector after a restart with two laps left in regulation, they usually have been racing all-out when Hamlin obtained free on the surface going into Flip 4 and went arduous into the wall, bringing out the 14th warning and sending the race to extra time.

“Making an attempt go for the win … obtained free and spun out,” stated Hamlin, the one driver to guide laps in all 9 races this season.

That was the second restart within the final 10 laps of regulation, with Hamlin main on the earlier one earlier than Elliott edged forward about the identical time that one other warning got here out when polesitter Kyle Larson wrecked after a crowded four-wide jumble again within the area.

On the primary restart in extra time, Elliott was on the within and took a tough shove from Keselowski, however Harrison Burton was wrecked inside a half lap.

In NASCAR’s solely cease this season on the 1½-mile Texas Motor Speedway, which for the primary time in 20 years will not host a fall playoff race, there have been 13 totally different leaders.

Keselowski has now gone 107 races since his final win at Talladega in April 2021, and nonetheless in search of his first win with RFK Racing, a workforce he co-owns.

“The motive force in me is pissed off as a result of I really feel like these are races I’m ok to win however haven’t got the velocity sufficient to do it,” Keselowski stated. “The proprietor in me is mad as hell as a result of it’s my fault for not making the automobiles sooner.”

Hamlin was the third driver to wreck when operating second within the race, and all of these got here in the identical space of the monitor. Chastain grew to become the fourth to crash from the No. 2 spot.

Michael McDowell was racing for the lead when he went by bumps in Flip 4 whereas on the surface of Chastain whereas racing for the lead on lap 142. The No. 34 Ford spun and slammed arduous into the wall, and Chastain went on to win the second stage.

“It is my fault that I spun. It isn’t the monitor’s fault,” McDowell stated.

Burton had taken the lead after going inside on lap 173 and getting three-wide off the backstretch with Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe, who have been operating up entrance after not pitting in the course of the warning on the finish of the second stage. Wallace obtained free, moved up and made contact with Briscoe.

LARSON’S LOST WHEEL

Larson gained the primary stage and led 77 laps earlier than a lugnut got here free and the fitting rear wheel got here off the No. 5 Chevrolet on lap 116. He needed to serve a two-lap penalty after getting the wheel changed, and went on to complete twenty first. He led 99 laps at Texas final fall earlier than spinning into the wall with 85 laps left.

FORD STILL WINLESS

Ford had the final two Cup champions, however nonetheless would not have a win in its new Mustang this season. Reigning champion Ryan Blaney obtained the final race win for Ford final October at Martinsville.

JJ SPINS

Jimmie Johnson’s spin out of the fourth flip onto the frontstretch on lap 50 introduced out the primary warning. The seven-time Cup champion, who now runs a really restricted schedule, holds TMS information with seven wins and 1,152 laps. His thirty sixth begin at Texas was his first there within the No. 84 Toyota for the Legacy Motor Membership workforce for which he’s a co-owner.

UP NEXT

Off to Talladega, the place Kyle Busch gained final April and Blaney gained a playoff race in October, the week after leaving Texas. The final driver with back-to-back wins at Talladega was Blaney, within the 2019 fall race and the next June in a race pushed again by the COVID-19 pandemic.