ELLIOTT NABS A WET WIN
Chase Elliott salvaged a crummy day for Hendrick Motorsports and interrupted a potential Toyota rout by winning the raindrenched race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night.
Elliott recovered from an early issue that dropped him deep into the field to take the lead with 38 laps remaining and hold off three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers for his second Cup victory of the season.
It took NASCAR’s most popular driver nearly seven hours and a late four-lap shootout to get to victory lane. NASCAR moved the start up by 12 minutes because of looming bad weather, then sat through an hour-long stoppage for lightning in the area, followed by a later rain delay that stretched a tick past two hours.
“So proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We had kind of a setback there about halfway and was able to get the Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. It was a long day, fun day.”
The race resumed right at the halfway point with teams unsure if the full 300 laps would be completed or if the race would be stopped early because of more rain. Toyota controlled almost the entire event — four of its drivers combined to lead 253 laps — but the No. 5 Hendrick crew brought Elliott’s Chevrolet to life in the closing stretch.
“We were able to work on it there a little bit after our penalty and got it going a little
better,” Elliott said. “So just stuck with it. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, too. They’ve been working really hard.”
He had the race in hand when a caution came out with nine laps remaining and Elliott didn’t pit from the lead for fresh tires. Nine other drivers stayed on track with him to create a pack of traffic that prevented the Toyotas from catching Elliott after they stopped for fresh tires.
“I figured it was coming. I was hoping not,” Elliott said about the caution. He led two times for 42 laps. But he pulled away on the restart and beat Kurt Busch — in a Toyota for 23XI Racing — by 0.551 seconds.
“Getting a win is always huge. To do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. Looking forward to that guitar,” Elliott said about
Nashville’s traditional winner’s trophy.
“These things are hard to come by and you have to enjoy them. You never know when or if ever you will get another one. So, super thankful and looking forward to next week.”
Busch, who led three laps for Toyota, said he should have been harder on Elliott on the final restart.
“I got soft on him. I should have been throwing some fenders and moving some momentum around,” said Busch.
“I just needed to stick with our strength and I messed up. The way that we’re running, a second is cool, but we’re here for wins.”
Ryan Blaney was third in a Ford and followed by Elliott’s teammate Kyle Larson, the defending race winner. The JGR trio of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and
Martin Truex Jr. fell to sixth, 21st and 22nd after the late decision to stop for tires ahead of the final restart.
Elsewhere
Mike Salinas won the NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio, to take the Top Fuel points lead from Brittany Force.
Salinas won for the fourth time this season and seventh overall, beating
Josh Hart in the final with a 3.706-second run at a trackrecord 333.58 mph.
Robert Hight won in Funny Car, Erica Enders in Pro Stock and Angelle Sampey in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Hight also took the points lead and won for the fourth time this season, topping
Bob Tasca III with a 3.944 at 327.51.
Enders won for the fourth time in five races and fifth overall this season. She beat
Aaron Stanfield. Sampey raced to her first victory of the year and 46th overall.
Filipe Albuquerque gave Wayne Taylor Racing its third consecutive IMSA sports car victory by holding off rival Acura team Meyer Shank Racing in the sixhour endurance race at Watkins Glen International in New York.
The race was stopped for one hour because of lightning and resumed with 20 minutes remaining.
The Wayne Taylor team is in a tight championship battle with Shank in the DPi class and consecutive wins at Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio and now Watkins Glen has given Albuquerque and codriver a 17point lead in the standings.