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).
Denny Hamlin finished second after leading a race-high 159 of 273 laps on the 1.5-mile oval.
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.
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.
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).