Chase Elliott broke a 42-race winless streak by holding off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Brad Keselowski in the second overtime on Sunday to win Sunday’s caution-filled NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
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 final caution, Elliott won a drag race with Ross Chastain on the final restart before Chastain wrecked and finished 32nd. Elliott remained out front and took the checkered flag under caution, earning the victory in the 267-lap race, the season’s ninth event.
“It was just crazy. This place is so sketchy,” Elliott said of the 1.5-mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team. … Appreciate all the folks back home that have stuck with me and helped us get back on track.”
The victory was the 19th of Elliott’s career and first since he won at Talladega on Oct. 2, 2022.
Keselowski came in second, while Byron, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez rounded 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.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chase Elliott wins Texas NASCAR Cup race, snaps 42-race winless streak
