“They’re hard to come by,” said Elliott, climbing from his #9 Chevy after a chaotic NASCAR Overtime finish at Kansas Speedway.
Hamlin and Wallace banged doors in turns three and four, allowing Elliott to sweep past and claim the victory just metres from the finish line.
The second race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 starred Kansas speedway: a fan favourite among 1.5-mile intermediate ovals, which has hosted the closest finish in NASCAR history – just 0.001 seconds separated Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher at the end of last year’s Spring race.
Chase Briscoe took his seventh Busch Light Pole Position in last night’s qualifying, meanwhile the Penske Fords, who were so dominant last weekend at New Hampshire, were constrained to the back of the field after issues all weekend.
Stage one consisted of 80 laps, initially led by Briscoe, until JGR team-mate Denny Hamlin passed the #19. Kyle Larson, who started on the second row, also passed Briscoe before a flurry of green-flag pit stops began.
Larson’s well-executed undercut not only kept his #5 Chevy ahead of Briscoe, but also took the lead from Hamlin as the #11 rejoined the racetrack. Hamlin kept him honest, eventually repassing Larson on lap 43.
Christopher Bell applied an adjusted philosophy for this weekend, pushing for a setup direction biased towards long-run speed. The changes worked, evidently, as he claimed third place from Chase Briscoe.
Lap 55 saw a caution come out as Cody Ware slammed the wall in turns three and four, thanks to what he called a “blowout” on the radio.
The #11 took only two tyres in his yellow-flag pit stop to keep the lead over Kyle Larson. Joey Logano also took two tyres to jump from 17th to fourth. Reddick left pit road in fifth but had to return after one circulation to fix a loose wheel.
Hamlin and Larson returned the field to green as they came to lap 63. Elliott spent two laps running at the top of three-wide to sweep past Larson and Bell for second place. It was not long before Elliott began to hassle the #11 for the lead.
Elliott fell behind team-mate Larson, but neither driver had the pace to match Hamlin, who claimed the stage one victory by 0.613 seconds.
A poorly-executed pit stop from the #11 crew dropped Denny Hamlin several places on pit road, forcing him to restart from sixth. Christopher Bell, with a two-tyre stop, claimed the lead exiting pit road.
Stage two kicked off on lap 8 of 85. A clean getaway allowed Bell to pull away until a wreck between Ryan Preece and John-Hunter Nemechek off turns three and four neutralised the race again.
The field returned to green onto lap 15 of stage two. An intra-team battle between Larson and Elliott allowed Bell to break away out front. However, it was Hamlin who appeared in second place, 32 laps into stage two, with the pace to challenge Bell leading by 2.4 seconds.
Green flag pit stops initiated on lap 41, the leaders trickled down pit road together on the following lap. It was a slow stop – 13.3 seconds – for the #20, putting him behind the #11. However, the lead was handed to Bubba Wallace, who undercut the JGR pair. Hamlin, who owns that #23 ride, eventually passed Wallace down the backstraight on lap 48.
Christopher Bell’s unmatched pace saw him pass Wallace, Larson, then Elliott to chase down Hamlin’s 1.6-second lead for the stage win. Despite interference from lapped traffic, Hamlin held on to sweep the stages in the Sunflower State.
Stage three was underway on lap 8 of the 108-lap stage. Elliott swept around the outside of Hamlin, clearing him for the lead. Hamlin played a strong defence as Bell challenged him for second, but Hamlin put it to rest.
By lap 31 of stage three, Hamlin once again claimed the race lead. Bell followed through, as Elliott fell off drastically throughout the run. He dropped a place to Bubba Wallace. Shortly after, on lap 211 of 267 overall, JJ Yeley in the #44 brought the yellow flag out as he spun with a bump from Carson Hocevar.
With the final pit stop of the day, the pressure was turned up to the max for the pit crews. Hamlin returned from pit road in the lead again, while Bell dropped behind Wallace and Elliott.
Denny Hamlin raised concern over steering problems: his power steering. The extent of the problem was not certain.
As the pack restarted, a stack-up caused a pileup in the 15-20 region, a dozen rows back. Several drivers were involved, including Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger and playoff drivers Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain.
With compromised power steering, Hamlin had to take another restart with 46 laps to go in Kansas, flanked by his team-mate. Wallace took third place from Briscoe as the #19 brushed the wall exiting turn two.
“I don’t know how much longer I can hold it,” said Hamlin as his power steering faded. He held a stable lead over Bell until a caution was triggered for debris on the track with 15 laps to go. A tyre carcass fell off the #8 Chevy of Kyle Busch after he tagged the wall off turn two.
A slow stop for the #11 put him down to sixth place. All the leaders besides the Hendrick cars took two tyres.
Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace led the field to green with nine laps to go. A clean restart saw Wallace take the lead as he battled side-by-side with Bell.
Carson Hocevar was pushed into a spin off the wall exiting turn two, bringing out another caution. Elliott’s progress on four fresh Goodyears took him up to sixth.
NASCAR Overtime initiated – a green-white-chequer finish – with Wallace and Bell leading the way. Wallace’s 23XI team-mate, Tyler Reddick, was behind to push him forward.
Wallace fought hard with Bell, inching ahead for the lead as the caution came out again – this time Zane Smith rode the length of the SAFER barrier on his side, before rolling down the banking at turns three and four. Ty Gibbs, John-Hunter Nemechek The yellow was elevated to a red flag as everyone was checked and helped.
“It was a wild ride, no doubt. I had a decent restart going, I just get wrecked by the #42. I was sliding on the wall, I was just mad at that point from how our day was going, that’s what pissed me off even more: rolling down the track,” said Zane Smith, after being released from the infield care centre.
Another NASCAR Overtime began – with a much better start from Wallace, who dove to the inside of Bell, shoving him up to the wall. Denny Hamlin, with a fantastic run, found the speed to drive up the inside of Wallace in the final corners, pushing Wallace up the track and into the wall, allowing Elliott to steal the victory in the final metres of the race.
The result started with a strong qualifying – the exact place the #9 team had struggled all year – paired with being a constant threat in the top 1- placed the Georgian in the prime position to take the victory.
Climbing from his #9 Chevrolet, Elliott said “Everything worked out perfect for me… Seas kinda parted, I was just able to keep my momentum up… What a crazy finish, I hope y’all enjoyed that! I certainly did! Win or no win, it’s really nice to qualify well.
“They’re hard to come by.”
It was commiserations for Bubba Wallace, however, who came into the weekend 27 points below the cut line, and only gained one point to the cut line despite running so well come the end of the race.
The pivotal Charlotte ROVAL comes next week to draw the Round of 12 to a close – who else will lock themself into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and who will fail to make the cut?
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