Chase Elliott passed Ross Chastain on the race's final restart to win Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Chase Elliott's winning streak is over.
Elliott powered through multiple overtime restarts to capture his first win since 2022 on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott passed Ross Chastain on the penultimate lap after the two drivers restarted on the front row, and was in the lead when Chastain crashed into William Byron's bumper on the final lap.
The 2020 Cup Series champion hadn't won a race since taking the checkered flag at Talladega in October 2022. It was a series of 42 races.
There were 16 cautions in the race, including the yellow flag for Chastain's crash on the final lap. That ties a course record set in 2022, although Sunday's race was 100 miles shorter than any other race in Texas through 2023.
Two of the cautions came as drivers battled for the lead, in part because there were less than three scheduled laps to go. Denny Hamlin crashed while on the outside of Elliott when his car suddenly lost traction and hit the wall.
After the race, Elliott called Texas “sketchy,” and that's a good way to describe the track since it was redesigned in 2017. The track is smooth and was never able to consistently create multiple grooves in the corners to allow drivers to ride side by side. More than 100 laps before Hamlin's accident in Turn 4, Michael McDowell crashed from second place because his car was not at the end of the track.
Kyle Larson's dominance disappears with his right rear wheel
Elliott's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson started first and was the strongest driver throughout the opening stages. But during the second stage, his right rear wheel came off the car under a warning flag and he was unable to regain the lost position on the track.
Larson was penalized for two laps because the wheel came off his car, and he got those laps back before spinning with less than ten scheduled laps to go. However, Larson never showed the speed he had at the start of the race once he was back in the field and ended up finishing in 20th place.
Jimmie Johnson spins again
Jimmie Johnson has made five Cup Series starts since returning to NASCAR on a part-time basis in 2023. He was involved in a caution in all five of these races.
Johnson received the first caution of the day on lap 49 when he spun in Turn 4. He then finished 26th and crossed the finish line on the leading lap.
But it's safe to say that Johnson's entry into driving after his retirement was a major disappointment. Before Sunday's race, he detailed his difficulties with the handling of the current Cup Series car, and his results showed it.
Race results
1. Chase Elliott
2. Brad Keselowski
3. William Byron
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Daniel Suarez
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Austin Dillon
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Kyle Busch
10. Carson Hocevar
11. Joey Logano
12. Ryan Preece
13. Ty Gibbs
14. Martin Truex Jr.
15. Ty Dillon
16. Noah Gragson
17. Daniel Henric
18. Chris Buescher
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20.Kyle Larson
21. Kaz Grala
22. Eric Jones
23. Christopher Bell
24. Zane Smith
25. Corey LaJoie
26. Jimmy Johnson
27. Austin Cindric
28. Justin Haley
29. Harrison Burton
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Todd Gilliland
32. Ross Chastain
33. Ryan Blakey
34. John Hunter Nemechek
35. Michael McDowell
36. Josh Berry
37. Alex Bowman
38. Austin Hill
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