Apparently, starting up front really does matter for Chase Elliott.
It took two overtimes, a car flipping like a cheap carnival ride, a last-lap charge, and more drama than Shakespeare could ever dream up. But in the end, Elliott muscled his way to his second win of the season at Kansas Speedway on Sunday—punching his ticket into the next round of NASCAR’s Playoffs.
It came after his best Playoff start so far, rolling off fourth, a welcome change from his usual habit of starting somewhere back near the concession stand.
On the final lap of double overtime, Bubba Wallace and his boss Denny Hamlin were side-by-side, banging doors into the final two turns. Hamlin, who had already swept both Stages and led a race-high 159 laps, slid up into Wallace entering Turn 3. For a moment, it looked like Hamlin would bag the win. But Elliott, armed with fresher tires and a nose for daylight, dived low and stole the show—beating Hamlin to the line by .069 seconds.
“Everything worked out perfect for me,” Elliott said. “Had a great push through one and two. That kind of all started with the 6. Big run off of two. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it.”
Hamlin, who had been muscling his Toyota around without power steering, looked more stunned than angry with a runner-up finish.
“I wanted it bad,” Hamlin admitted. “It would have been 60 for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast. Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner.
“Obviously got really, really tight with the 23, and it just got real tight and we let the 9 win.”
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell led the second-most laps (43) and came home third, while polesitter, and JGR driver Chase Briscoe was fourth. Wallace recovered from his fender-bending battle with his boss to finish fifth.
“Two years ago I’d probably say something dumb,” Wallace quipped. “He’s a dumbass for that move. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there.”
Briscoe led the opening 19 laps—his best Kansas showing—before Hamlin stormed by, reminding everyone why he’s a four-time Kansas winner. Hamlin controlled much of the first half thanks to sharp strategy, including a gutsy two-tire call that somehow worked against a field full of four-tire cars. He even fended off Kyle Larson and Elliott to win Stage 1. Bell copied the move in Stage 2, briefly holding off Larson before Hamlin muscled back to the front and swept both Stages.
But Kansas wasn’t going to be that simple.
JJ Yeley went for a spin after contact from Carson Hocevar, setting off a stretch of chaos. A massive stack-up on a restart turned Joey Logano into a pinball, with Austin Cindric taking the hardest shot. After working his way from the back of the field Logano then got nailed for speeding on pit road, because of course he did.
Hamlin’s pit crew—famous for calamity—picked the worst time to strike again. On the final round of pit stops with 14 to go, the jackman fumbled a two-tire stop, dropping Hamlin from the lead to sixth. Elliott, the only top-six car on four fresh tires, smelled blood.
That set up the madness. Hocevar spun to trigger overtime. On the first attempt, John Hunter Nemechek squeezed Zane Smith into the wall. Smith’s Ford skated along the wall, tipped over, and tumbled before landing on its wheels. NASCAR threw the red flag, Smith climbed out unharmed, and everyone waited eight and a half tense minutes to try and finish it.
When the dust finally settled, Elliott’s late dive sealed the win in one of the wildest Kansas finishes in years.
Larson finished sixth, Tyler Reddick rebounded to seventh after an early slump, followed by Brad Keselowski. William Byron battled back for ninth, while Shane van Gisbergen tiptoed through the wreckage to snag tenth.
Next up: the Roval at Charlotte. Last year, Larson owned the place. This time, four drivers will be sent packing. Right now, Ross Chastain, Wallace, Reddick, and Cindric are in the danger zone.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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