Chase Elliott won for the second time on Sunday, but the 2020 champion wasn’t quite sure how it happened.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver roared from eighth place on a wild, two-lap shootout in overtime to win the middle race of the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 12 playoffs, the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
After two cautions including Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford riding the Turns 3 and 4 wall on two wheels and flipping twice, Elliott made his move and banged doors off the final turn with leader Denny Hamlin, who ran Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 up the track in Turn 3.
Elliott, who stopped for four tires when the six drivers in front of him took two, beat Hamlin, who was seeking his 60th career win, by 0.609 seconds for his second victory to advance to the Round of 8. Elliott led for 24 laps.
“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who won for the first time since late June in Atlanta. “Had a great push through (Turns) 1 and 2, that all started with (Brad Keselowski). … The seas kind of parted and I was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it.
“We still had pretty good tires compared to those guys,” added Elliott, who won for the second time at Kansas Speedway and for the 21st time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Of the contact with Hamlin, Elliott replied, “I wasn’t going to lift. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Hamlin fought steering problems and denied Wallace, who drives for him at 23XI Racing, a chance to advance.
“Super disappointing,” said a dejected Hamlin, who led for 159 laps. “I wanted it badly. It would’ve been 60 for me. I got really tight with (Wallace) and we let (Elliott) win.”
The Toyotas of Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Wallace rounded out the top five.
Four drivers trail eighth-place Joey Logano below the cutline: Ross Chastain (-13 points), Wallace (-26), Tyler Reddick (-29) and Austin Cindric (-48).
Next Sunday’s race, the Roval 500 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Road Course, will eliminate four drivers.
After polesitter Briscoe lost the lead to Hamlin, Kyle Larson got into the mix and was leading when Cody Ware’s No. 51 Ford suffered tire failure and hit the wall coming off Turn 3 on Lap 56.
Running on older tires than the Hendrick Motorsports cars of Larson and Elliott, Hamlin kept his No. 11 Toyota out front and beat Larson, Elliott, Bell and Chastain for the top segment points.
In a second stage that featured a lone caution for a frontstretch wreck between Ryan Preece and John Hunter Nemechek, Bell found the point early and led by under two seconds at the 120-lap mark. However, Hamlin moved past his JGR teammate, managed the top spot and beat Bell’s No. 20 by about 3/10ths of a second for his sixth stage win.
With 94 laps remaining, Hamlin and Elliott went side-by-side down the backstretch, but the Hendrick driver edged ahead for the lead with Hamlin and Bell within earshot.
The race’s biggest incident occurred as cars stacked up on the Lap 51 restart heading to Turn 1. The Team Penske Fords of Logano and Cindric were involved, with Cindric’s No. 2 being turned and hitting the wall.
Hamlin had a one-second lead over Bell with 15 laps to go and appeared to be headed toward a momentous win, but the seventh caution for debris on the 1.5-mile track flew. Hamlin’s jackman then had trouble, and the No. 11 restarted sixth with Bell leading.
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