Chase Elliott drove from the back of the field to the front at Road America, outlasting Kyle Busch and winning the Jockey Made in America 250 in the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to Elkhart Lake, Wis. on Sunday, July 4.
Elliott’s second victory of 2021 was also his second at a road course, after his rain-shortened triumph at Circuit of the Americas. He started 32nd on Sunday as Cup took to the 4.048-mile, 14-turn track for the first time since 1956.
“It was a hot day,” Elliott said after celebrating with fans in turn 5, “but a lot of fun. Just really proud of our team for overcoming some adversity early and having to start at the back, having good pit stops. Had a really fast NAPA Chevrolet. Just so proud, we’ve had a rough two weeks, so it feels really good.
“…I never felt like I got in a real good rhythm all of yesterday,” he said of preparing for the race in practice on Saturday (July 3). “For whatever reason there, about halfway through the race, I started finding some of that rhythm and was able to put it together and piece different parts of the track. Then, finally, I felt like I was able to piece most of it together, so staying with it and glad it worked out.”
Christopher Bell followed in second, while Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
William Byron and Kyle Larson completed a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the front row in qualifying and led the field to green, with Byron escaping from the No. 5 to lead the opening laps.
Issues started early, though, with Daniel Suarez suffering transmission issues and rolling to a stop on lap 3. It was the same problem that plagued the No. 99 at Circuit of the Americas, an incident that also happened in the first 10 laps of that race.
An early problem for @Daniel_SuarezG.
The No. 99 has come to a stop on Lap 3. pic.twitter.com/aukqfbiEE6
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 4, 2021
This brought out the first caution of the day with Byron still out front, but he and Larson waged a back-and-forth battle after the restart. That war ended, though, when Larson blew the corner in turn 5, came in too hot and swung wide, falling back to third and allowing AJ Allmendinger into second. Ty Dillon spun around prior to the end of the stage, as well, but it was Kyle Tilley flying off the racing surface and getting stuck in the gravel that brought out another caution.
That yellow brought an end to stage 1, won by Byron, and set up a chaotic restart headed up by Martin Truex Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto… and, going into the first turn, Austin Cindric. Cindric restarted third but dove to Truex’s inside, making it three-wide and dropping the No. 19 to third. DiBenedetto fell behind Cindric but bounced back, taking the lead from the No. 33.
THREE-WIDE FOR THE LEAD!@AustinCindric takes the lead on the restart for Stage 2 at @RoadAmerica. TV: NBC#NASCAR // #NBCRacingWeekend pic.twitter.com/zMYCQVbhH9
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
Cindric then got the lead back five laps later, but overshot turn 7 to allow both DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch by him. Cindric initially appeared to recover, but was slow on track and then looped the car around with an apparent gear issue, taking it to the garage.
Something is amiss on Austin Cindric's car.
He was leading, but then looped it here. #NASCAR // #NBCRacingWeekend pic.twitter.com/4W8LmHAYPw
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
Busch and Truex inherited the top spots after the No. 21 pitted, but they also made stops prior to the end of stage 2, allowing Tyler Reddick to scoot through and claim the stage victory. Kurt Busch held on for fifth in the segment despite doing some landscaping and losing a spot.
Hamlin and Corey LaJoie became part of the off-track excursion club before the end of the stage.
Denny Hamlin takes a trip to the beach on the Fourth of July.#NASCAR // #NBCRacingWeekend pic.twitter.com/odXUhuTBpb
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
Dirt. Lots of it.@CoreyLaJoie // #NBCRacingWeekend // #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/DICT5lgf13
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
The No. 18 was the successor to the lead for the restart after those that didn’t pit originally stopped for service, but DiBenedetto then chased him down and got the lead back, gapping the Toyota by about a second.
That’s when Elliott started to make his presence known, passing Busch and eventually DiBenedetto for the lead. Busch followed suit past the No. 21 into second, and so did Denny Hamlin into third, dropping DiBenedetto to fourth with just over 20 laps left. Elliott and Busch both started at the back of the field when the race started and the No. 9 sat four seconds ahead of Busch, at least until a caution flew for Anthony Alfredo sliding into the gravel trap.
Nearly everyone pitted during the break and Busch retook the lead on the restart, but Elliott swept back by the No. 18.
Still a long way to go at @RoadAmerica!
Less than 15 laps remain on @NBC, but that's 60 miles! Chase Elliott leads. #NBCRacingWeekend
Stream: https://t.co/wKDI0aNMYn pic.twitter.com/PFtRGCMXLp
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
Christopher Bell, a past Xfinity Series winner, moved up to third, but he still sat two seconds behind Busch. Busch, in turn, was nearly five seconds behind Elliott with 10 laps remaining. Busch cut it by about half a second with seven to go, while battles were being fought all throughout the top 10.
Things calmed down somewhat, but Larson’s top-five run went out the window when teammate Alex Bowman sailed into turn 5, punting the No. 5 into a spin.
AROUND GOES KYLE LARSON!
His teammate Alex Bowman gets into the back of him and turns him around! TV: NBC // #NASCAR // #NBCRacingWeekend pic.twitter.com/sLj76tSkzk
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 4, 2021
Up front, Bell snuck past teammate Busch for the runner-up spot. The Daytona International Speedway road course winner pulled away but still ran more than five seconds behind Elliott, who cruised to his second victory of the season.
“This track has a lot of character to it,” Elliott said afterwards. “And it’s so long, and you have a lot of opportunity to make mistakes and be good whenever you hit it. Four miles is a long course, and this has a lot of character to it, a lot of bumps, a lot of sections that are really tricky to get through. Conserving your tire[s] was a little bit of a thing today, which to be honest we don’t have much of that, I feel like, anymore. So it was a little [bit of a] different race.”
Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Reddick, Truex and DiBenedetto completed the top 10.
Cup Results from Road America
The Cup Series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Ryan Blaney won in March, next weekend. Catch the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart on Sunday, July 11 at 3:30 p.m. ET with coverage on NBC Sports Network.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.