Chase Elliott Snaps Winless Drought at Texas

The last time Chase Elliott was in victory lane was back in October 2022 at Talladega Superspeedway, 42 starts ago. Elliott finally broke that winless drought after a rough 2023 season, as he picked up the win in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.

It wasn’t an easy task to get this win either, as the 2020 Cup Series Champion prevailed in three late-race restarts, two of which involved overtime. 

“Oh man, it couldn’t feel any better,” said a smiling Elliott after he climbed out of his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet. Elliott also did an infamous Polish victory lap in tribute to the late 1992 Cup Series Champion Alan Kulwicki. 

Speaking of which, this would mark the first win for a Hooters-sponsored car since June 1992 at Pocono with Kulwicki.

“Couldn’t be any more grateful for this journey and the fact it hasn’t always been fun, but certainly, I have enjoyed working with our guys,” he added. “We’ve been working really hard and really well together and that’s always been fun. We’ve enjoyed the fight together.”

Brad Keselowski finished second as he was trying to pick up his first win since April 2021 at Talladega. On a restart with two laps left in regulation, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott were side-by-side battling for the win when Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota got a little too high up the track, getting loose and spinning, taking him out of contention for a win. 

Ross Chastain was also in the mix to win but wasn’t able to find a way past Elliott. On the final lap, he got loose coming off turn two, in which William Byron would plow into the back of the No. 1 Chevrolet, taking Chastain out and causing a finishing result of 32nd for the No. 1 team. The race featured 23 lead changes among 13 drivers, as well as a track record of 16 cautions. 

William Byron settled for third, while 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick finished fourth and Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez finished fifth. 

“We didn’t have a ton of speed, I was more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it and we’re doing all we can do to overcome that,” Brad Keselowski said, adding: “So proud of the team for the pit stops, the strategy and the execution.”

Tyler Reddick looked like the clear favorite with 60 laps to go, as he led by six seconds, but a slow pit stop from the crew set him back and had to play a game of catch-up. Martin Truex Jr also had issues on pit road and had to correct a loose wheel, causing him to finish 14th. 

Kyle Larson was the most dominant driver of the race, leading for 77 laps, but he had a right rear tire fall off the car during a caution period. Larson would go on to finish 21st.

Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, and rookie Carson Hocevar finished out of the top ten. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson made a return to the track but had a spin on lap 50. Johnson would recover to finish on the lead lap in 29th. 

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 21st at 3 pm EST.