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NASCAR at Texas results: Chase Elliott holds on for double overtime win in Autotrader Echopark Automotive 400

After getting to the front on a series of late restarts, Chase Elliott survived double overtime and hard charges from both Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain to win the Autotrader Echopark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott's victory is his first since Talladega in the fall of 2022, ending a 42-race winless streak that dogged the 2020 Cup Series champion and NASCAR's reigning Most Popular Driver.

Elliott got the lead for the final time by getting a nose out in front of Hamlin with eight laps to go. He then held on over the final three restarts as both Hamlin and Chastain wound up crashing out of second behind him.

Autotrader Echopark Automotive 400 unofficial results

  1. #9 - Chase Elliott
  2. #6 - Brad Keselowski
  3. #24 - William Byron
  4. #45 - Tyler Reddick
  5. #99 - Daniel Suarez
  6. #14 - Chase Briscoe
  7. #3 - Austin Dillon
  8. #23 - Bubba Wallace
  9. #8 - Kyle Busch
  10. #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)

Elliott's 19th career win was a cathartic one, as it puts him back in the winner's circle for the first time after a difficult 2023 season that saw him miss multiple races due to an off-track injury, one race due to a suspension, and miss the playoffs for the first time in his career. And in the euphoria of it, Elliott chose to pay tribute to the legendary Alan Kulwicki by doing a Polish Victory Lap, driving backwards facing the crowd down the frontstretch, in a deliberate nod to the 1992 Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer.

Elliott, whose father Bill lost the 1992 title to Kulwicki by just 10 points in one of NASCAR's greatest championship battles ever, was carrying the same Hooters sponsorship on his car that Kulwicki once had on his.

"It couldn't feel any better ... It's been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki. And driving this car to a victory and being able to do a Polish Victory Lap, just really crazy how things came full-circle there in that moment," Elliott told Fox Sports. "It was pretty emotional for me. He beat Dad back in the day, and here we are sharing his sponsor and having an opportunity to win today.

"Just couldn't be more grateful for this journey and kind of the path that hasn't always been fun. But I certainly have enjoyed working with our guys. We've been working really hard and really well together. Like I said, it hasn't always been fun, but we've enjoyed the fight together."

In sharing his firsts, Elliott's first Cup win at Texas is also the first victory for a Hooters-sponsored car since Kulwicki earned the fifth and final win of his career at Pocono in June 1992. Kulwicki was tragically killed in a plane crash en route to Bristol Motor Speedway in April 1993.

Beware the bump

Elliott's path to victory was cleared in part thanks to a section of the upper groove in Turns 3 and 4 that played a major role in Sunday's race, with no development more sudden or more explicit than what it did to Denny Hamlin. A particularly jarring set of bumps in Turn 4 led to multiple cars bottoming out over them throughout the day, sending them spinning extremely quickly.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson, who brought out the first of 16 cautions on the day, was lucky to get away without hitting anything. Other drivers who spun in Turn 4, including Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell, wound up backing hard into the outside wall and saw their races come to a premature end for all practical purposes.

Calamity corner would finally end up deciding the race for the win when Denny Hamlin, trying to hang to the outside of Elliott on the first overtime attempt, lost it and backed into the fence.

As tough as Turns 3 and 4 proved to be -- others who spun in that area included Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek -- the other end of the track in Turns 1 and 2 proved just as treacherous. Drivers who spun out at the other end of Texas' asymmetrical configuration and sweeping, flatter turn included, among others, defending Cup champion Ryan Blaney, whose race was spoiled when he spun and hit the outside wall off the bumper of Ryan Preece.

Others who had trouble in Turns 1 and 2 included Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and a host of drivers on late-race restarts. In all, the 16 cautions that flew in Sunday's race tied the record for the most yellow flags in a Cup race in the track's history, matching a mark that had been set just two years ago in 2022.

You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel

Early on, it looked as though Sunday's race would be far less competitive than it ended up becoming, as Kyle Larson looked to be the class of the field and to have prohibitively the fastest car. Larson led 77 laps after starting from the pole, won the opening stage, and looked in for a Sunday drive until a pit road miscue wound up catching up to the No. 5 team.

While riding under caution following a spin by Carson Hocevar, Larson suddenly dropped off the pace with smoke trailing from his right rear wheel, which had not been properly attached on his last pit stop. The wheel came off as Larson dropped to the apron of Turn 1, leaving him to drive back to the pits on three wheels where he had to serve a two-lap penalty from NASCAR for the on-track loss of a loose wheel.

Due to the amount of cautions during the day, Larson was eventually able to get both of his laps back by virtue of the free pass, and by the end of Stage 2 he was back on the lead lap and seemingly set up to drive back to the front. But Larson's car was never the same back in traffic -- and likely with some damage from the underside of his car dragging on the racetrack -- and he would wind up finishing 21st after getting spun during a late restart.

Messing with Melon Man

The crash that ended the race on the final lap should not go unmentioned, as it both cost Ross Chastain another top-five finish and came off the bumper of the winningest driver of the 2024 season. After getting a run on Chastain just as the No. 1 appeared to lose some momentum on the exit of Turn 2, William Byron's car ran straight into the back of Chastain's, sending it spinning into the wall and down the racetrack.

According to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Chastain declined comment on the incident upon leaving the infield care center, while Byron said after a third-place finish that he had not meant for the accident to happen.

"I don't want to do that to anyone, but I was just far enough inside that I was there and I had a run and and it's the last lap," Byron told The Athletic. "We always race really well and so I don't want to do that to him."

Adding an interesting layer to the run-in was that Chastain's spin came off the bumper of a Hendrick Motorsports car, putting the shoe on the other foot after an incident that occurred over a year ago at Darlington. Chastain had collided with Kyle Larson racing for the win that day, which along with other incidents had earned him a somewhat stern rebuke from normally cordial car owner Rick Hendrick.

Race results rundown

  • With Kevin Harvick now retired and in the broadcast booth for Fox Sports, can we give the "Mr. Where Did He Come From" moniker to Daniel Suarez? Suarez, who had complained of an ill-handling car, had been running deep in the field until he gained track position thanks to a well-timed caution that came out before he had come to pit road during the final cycle of green flag stops. Suarez proceeded to keep that track position, earning a fifth-place finish on a day that looked like it wouldn't amount to anything.
  • No one in NASCAR needed a top-10 finish more than Austin Dillon, and he got one. Dillon and Richard Childress Racing teammate Kyle Busch were both among the cars that gained track position late in the race, and both ended up in the top 10 with Dillon finishing a season-best seventh. The top 10 run comes in only the second race since Justin Alexander replaced Keith Rodden as crew chief for the No. 3 team.
  • Despite a spin early in the race, Carson Hocevar was able to battle back to earn an eventual 10th-place finish, his first Cup top 10 and the best finish of his young career. Both rookie drivers in Spire Motorsports cars stood out in Sunday's race, as Zane Smith spent some time mid-race running up inside the top five.
  • In his second of five scheduled starts for Kaulig Racing -- and just a few days after the birth of his son Bear -- Ty Dillon earned a nice 16th-place finish in Kaulig's No. 16 car. Teammate Daniel Hemric was just behind Dillon in 20th, earning his fourth top-20 finish of the season and his first since he opened the year with three-straight such finishes.
  • Harrison Burton found the front again on Sunday, using a combination of strategy and a daring three-wide move on a restart to lead a total of seven laps, his first laps led in Cup since Daytona last August. However, Burton would wind up finishing 28th after a late race accident.
  • Jimmie Johnson didn't enjoy a completely clean day thanks to his spin, but he was finally able to get something that had eluded him since he returned to a schedule of limited Cup starts in 2023. Johnson finished on the lead lap for the first time with Legacy Motor Club and for the first time overall since the last race of his full-time career at Phoenix in 2020.

Next race

It's off to the biggest and fastest speedway on Earth as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500 next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on Fox.

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Live updates
 
Pinned

0-for-42, and now 1-for-42! NASCAR's Most Popular Driver is back in Victory Lane as Chase Elliott wins at Texas Motor Speedway in double overtime!

Caution came out to end the race as Ross Chastain got turned by William Byron while those two were racing for second.

1 - #9 - Chase Elliott
2 - #6 - Brad Keselowski
3 - #24 - William Byron
4 - #45 - Tyler Reddick
5 - #99 - Daniel Suarez
6 - #14 - Chase Briscoe
7 - #3 - Austin Dillon
8 - #23 - Bubba Wallace
9 - #8 - Kyle Busch
10 - #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

SPIN! Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has gone around on the exit of Turn 2 to bring out the 12th caution of the day!

Just as it looked like things had leveled out in the race for the lead and like Denny Hamlin was sitting pretty, the complexion of this race just changed yet again

 
@NASCARONFOX via Twitter
 

Brad Keselowski has caught Chase Elliott for second, but he hasn't been able to get a run on him as of yet. Elliott is now running the middle groove and it's impeding Keselowski's progress.

 

Denny Hamlin has opened up a half second lead on Chase Elliott. The problem is, Brad Keselowski is faster than both of them. He's eight tenths of a second back of the lead and is closing quickly on Chase Elliott for second spot.

And what's more, he's got plenty of time to make this happen. 18 laps to go.

 

Side-by-side now for the race lead! Denny Hamlin gets to the outside of Elliott, and they run about a lap side-by-side before Hamlin finally prevails! 22 laps to go now.

Just as Hamlin completed that pass, Tyler Reddick washed up and hit the wall in Turn 2. He continues, but he's fallen back to eighth and has considerable right side damage.

 

Coming to 25 laps to go now. Chase Elliott has only a three tenth of a second lead on Denny Hamlin, but Hamlin hasn't managed to put a move on Elliott as of now.

Elliott is trying to end a 42-race winless streak. 10 years ago, he got his first Xfinity Series win right here. Can be make yet another Texas memory?

He might -- If he can outrun Brad Keselowski, who has the freshest tires of anyone in the top 10 and is now looking to take third from Tyler Reddick. And speaking of winless streaks, Brad Keselowski is trying to end one that's lasted almost three years!

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

We're back to green now with 33 laps to go to settle this race. And Tyler Reddick gets taken three-wide, put in the sucker hole, and there's a new sheriff at the front! Chase Elliott to the lead over Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain!

 

The top five cars -- Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Ross Chastain -- do not pit and cycle back to the front of the field. Zane Smith is listed in sixth as the free pass car, but he's going to have to drop back to the back of the field as the lucky dog. Ryan Preece, the first car off pit road, is listed in sixth.

 
@NASCARONFOX via Twitter
 

As a complication of when that caution came out, there's now only 17 cars on the lead lap, which is going to gain all the cars that hadn't pitted yet a lot of track position. I believe Zane Smith in 18th will be the free pass, while everyone else will have to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap.

Ryan Preece wins the race off pit road over Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Brad Keselowski.

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

CAR IN THE WALL, TURN 3! John Hunter Nemechek lost it on his own and backed HARD into the outside wall, bringing out the caution that's going to be an absolute godsend for the 12 cars that had yet to pit!

 

Don't look now, but for as slow as Tyler Reddick's stop was compared to Denny Hamlin's, it might not end up mattering: Reddick has passed Denny Hamlin on-track and is set to cycle back to the lead.

Joey Logano remains the leader as we approach 40 laps to go. 12 cars have yet to pit.

 

Chastain now comes to pit road with 50 laps to go. That'll give the lead to Joey Logano as it looks like about 15 cars have yet to stop.

Martin Truex Jr. now comes back to pit road. Another loose wheel, this time on the left rear.

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

Slow pit stop for Tyler Reddick! There was some sort of hangup on the right side, and it's led to Reddick losing what will eventually be the race lead to Denny Hamlin!

Still waiting for green flag stops to cycle through. Ross Chastain is currently the leader over Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Todd Gilliland.

 

William Byron becomes the first of the leaders to pit. He did this last week and it worked fairly well for him.

That's going to draw more of the leaders to the pits. Chase Elliott comes in, Tyler Reddick comes in from the lead, and now Denny Hamlin heads to pit road as well.

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

Austin Cindric has now elected to come to pit road. Thought i saw that he hadn't been to pit road in about 60+ laps.

Chris Buescher now makes his way to pit road. We'll see if cars closer to the front start to pit as Tyler Reddick has built a 5.2 second lead.

 

Harrison Burton, who had the oldest tires of any driver in the top 10, has come to pit road. We should start seeing a steady stream of cars to pit road fairly soon, as everyone still has to make one more stop today.

Heard over the radio of Zane Smith's team, who's having an excellent run today, that they were about 20-25 laps from pitting.

 

Tyler Reddick has opened up a 1.2 second lead on Denny Hamlin. He just drove past Ryan Blaney, who is now eight laps down and the only car in the field still running that's not on the lead lap.

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

Ryan Blaney returned to the track momentarily after getting his crash damage repaired, but he's had to make another trip down pit road to serve a Too Many Men Over the Wall penalty. That's a two lap penalty, and unlike Kyle Larson I'm not sure he's going to make it out of this one with his race intact.

Speaking of Kyle Larson, he's only made it up to 25th as he tries to work back through traffic. Keep in mind that he's at a disadvantage on tires compared to the rest of the field. Looked like there was actually some contact between him and Jimmie Johnson as those two raced for position.

 

Another restart, this time with Tyler Reddick leading and with 83 laps to go. Ryan Blaney's team continues to work on repairing his car on pit road. He's lost two laps and is set to lose more.

Reddick, Hamlin, Elliott, William Byron and Zane Smith the top five.

 
@NASCAR via Twitter
 

Car in the wall way up in Turn 4. John Hunter Nemechek got in the fence, but keeps going.

But now the caution is out again, and it's for Ryan Blaney! He's hit the wall and has major damage to his right front fender! Looked like he got sent into the wall by Ryan Preece.

 

Harrison Burton leads the field back to the green flag with 90 laps to go. He'll try and motor away from Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin and stay out front for a bit.

Big move by Chase Elliott for fourth, as he caught Zane Smith for fourth on the exit of Turn 4 a little bit faster than he was ready to catch him to put the crossover on him. He takes fourth as Harrison Burton tries to do some defensive driving on Tyler Reddick, but it won't work and Tyler Reddick now goes to the front.

 
@NASCARONFOX via Twitter
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