In a double-overtime shootout at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (April 14), Chase Elliott muscled past Ross Chastain to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win since Talladega Superspeedway in 2022.
The win snapped a 42-race winless streak for NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.
“Oh, man, it couldn’t feel any better,” Elliott told FOX Sports.
Elliott didn’t celebrate with a massive burnout. Instead, he did a Polish victory lap, the celebration of the late 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki. Hooters was on the hood of the No. 9 for Sunday’s race, which was formerly a sponsor for Kulwicki.
“Hooters has been a partner of ours for a number of years now, and it’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki,” Elliott said. “And driving this car to a victory and being able to do a Polish victory lap and just really crazy how things came full circle in that moment. It was pretty emotional for me.”
After taking the white flag with a manageable lead over Chastain, Elliott was rewarded the win after Chastain spun off the front of William Byron‘s No. 24 Chevrolet to bring out the yellow flag.
Brad Keselowski, Byron, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suárez made up the top five behind Elliott. Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10.
Stage one ran cordially with one caution for cause following a single-car spin from seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
Kyle Larson won stage one, his fifth stage win of 2024, over Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. Reddick and Briscoe completed the top five, with Ryan Blaney, Elliott, Michael McDowell, Byron and Wallace rounding out the top 10.
The intensity picked up in stage two with side-by-side racing throughout the top 10 until Bell lost it on the exit of turn 4. Attempting to avoid the slow No. 20 car, Alex Bowman and John Hunter Nemechek collided in the bottom lane, spinning into the grass.
Less than 15 laps later, Hocevar spun off Busch’s front bumper, bringing out the caution again.
Under the caution, Larson’s right-rear tire came loose and off the car, sending the pole sitter two laps down.
The caution flew quickly after the restart, with Josh Berry spinning into the wall in turn 1. Berry did the same on the following restart, ending his day.
On the ensuing restart, McDowell was running second when he lost the rear on the exit of turn 4 and backed it into the wall. That ended the No. 34’s day.
Chastain collected his first stage win of 2024 in stage two. Wallace, Blaney, Erik Jones, Keselowski, Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs and Elliott rounded out the top 10 from second through 10th, respectively.
The outbreak of cautions in stage two would continue into the final leg of the race. First, Wallace slid into Briscoe in a three-wide fight for the lead alongside Burton.
Then, Blaney found himself in the wall soon after off a bump from Ryan Preece.
Next, Nemechek brought out the caution after losing the rear and slamming into the outside wall, ending his day.
Stenhouse brought out another caution after, spinning into the wall with 13 laps to go. Larson spun on the next restart, bringing out the yellow for the 13th time.
With two laps to go, Hamlin was challenging Elliott for the lead on the outside when he spun in turn 3, hitting the wall and ending his hunt for the win. That sent the race into overtime.
The 15th caution came from a spin and wreck involving Burton and Kaz Grala to send it into double overtime.
On the final restart, Elliott cleared Chastain for the lead going into turn 3 and hung onto it until the final caution flew for the incident between Chastain and Byron that ended the race.
AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 RESULTS
Next Sunday, April 21, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega for the Geico 500. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. E.T. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM.
About the author
Ty joined the Frontstretch team in February of 2024 as a Contributor covering Sunday news. He has two books available on Amazon: A Perfect Sundae and Chartreuse: Crime & Horror Short Stories.
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I would’ve seen Jimmie Johnson win at Texas but I’m not congratulating chase Elliott for his win.
J-Jo needs Knaus and Brian France to win.
I don’t think so.
How Brian set up the mile and a half tracks which J_Jo was really good at in the last 10 events virtually guaranteed the 7 titles.And the PDCs that seemed to occur when he needed them. At least he stopped at 7.
With 15 laps to go Bubba was TWENTY-FOURTH. At the first GWC restart he was FIFTEENTH. Bubba thrives on restart chaos and the choose lane so he can make up places.