Chase Elliott earned his 21st career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, zooming from 10th to first on the final restart in double overtime at Kansas Speedway to advance to the third round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
It’s the second victory this season for the No. 9 Chevrolet driver, who ended a 12-race winless drought dating to June 28 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Elliott became the eighth driver with multiple wins this year by notching his second victory at Kansas (where he won in October 2018).
Elliott has won two of the past 13 races after winning only once in the previous 87 races. This was his eighth playoff victory and first since Talladega Superspeedway nearly three years ago.
Denny Hamlin finished second after leading a race-high 159 of 273 laps on the 1.5-mile oval.
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver went from 10th to first on the final restart to beat Denny Hamlin.
Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace, who led the six laps prior to hitting the wall on the last lap while battling Hamlin for the lead.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, William Byron and rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who earned his first career top 10 on an oval.
With Elliott and New Hampshire winner Ryan Blaney having advanced to the Round of 8, here are the points standings for the remaining 10 playoff drivers heading into the second-round cutoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval:
Kyle Larson 3,124 points (plus-54 to the curline); Denny Hamlin 3,118 (plus-48); Christopher Bell 3,114 (plus-44); William Byron 3,110 (plus-40); Chase Briscoe 3,091 (plus-21); Joey Logano 3,083 (plus-13).
Below the cutline are: Ross Chastain 3,070 (minus-13 to the cutline); Bubba Wallace 3,057 (minus-26); Tyler Reddick 3,054 (minus-29); Austin Cindric 3,035 (minus-48).
Here’s the finishing order at Kansas
1. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
2. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
3. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
4. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
5. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
6. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
7. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
8. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
9. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
10. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
11. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
12. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
13. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
14. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
15. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
16. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
17. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
18. Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
19. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
20. Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
21. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
22. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
23. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
24. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
25. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
26. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
27. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
28. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
29. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
30. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
31. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
32. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
33. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
34. JJ Yeley, No. 44 Chevrolet
35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
36. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
37. Cody Ware, No. 51 Ford
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