Chase Elliott wasn’t the strongest car at Nashville Superspeedway but he came to life when it mattered most Sunday night.
Elliott won for the second time this season by holding off Kurt Busch following a restart with four laps to go. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was kept on track with nine other drivers when the last caution of the Ally 400, for possible fluid from the blown engine of Josh Bilicki, flew with nine laps to go. A clean restart sealed the win for Elliott.
Elliott led 42 of 300 laps, including the last 39.
“I figured it was coming; I was hoping not,” Elliott said of the last caution. “Ryan [Blaney] gave me a great shove; I appreciate him doing me a solid there and getting us out front. I’m just so proud of our team. We had kind of a setback, there, about halfway and were able to get our NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. It was a long day; a fun day.
“Just so proud of our team – we’ve had a pretty tough month, month and a half. It’s just nice to get back going in the right direction. Getting a win is always huge. To do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better, so looking forward to that guitar.”
Elliott made a second pit stop under a brief caution for rain on lap 118 for an adjustment on the right rear. He was running fifth before losing his track position.
Elliott also won on the concrete at Dover Motor Speedway earlier this season. He remains the NASCAR Cup Series point leader with nine races left in the regular season.
Elliott is the fifth driver to have multiple wins in 2022.
Busch finished second and Ryan Blaney finished third. Kyle Larson finished fourth and ross Chastain completed the top five.
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin finished sixth after leading a race-high 114 laps. Hamlin was one of those who chose to pit under the final caution and was the highest finish from that group of drivers.
Austin Cindric finished seventh, Christopher Bell eighth, Joey Logano ninth, and Kevin Harvick 10th.
We've got @MartinTruex_Jr and @dennyhamlin doing all they can for the top spot. 💪 pic.twitter.com/T56lTTtjO4
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 27, 2022
Martin Truex Jr. led 82 laps and swept the first two stages. Truex, however, finished 22nd after pitting under the last caution and losing his track position.
Sunday’s race was halted three times for weather, which included two red flags for a total of 3 hours and nine minutes. There were 10 cautions overall.
The race had 18 lead changes among seven drivers.
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