Elliott roars to NASCAR victory at Kansas Speedway in race with very few cautions

The first two races at Kansas Speedway this weekend were rife with wrecks and chaos.

Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 was supposed to deliver more of the same.

For one thing, it was an elimination race, where the field of championship contenders would be whittled from 12 to eight. Moreover, the track’s variable banking and multiple racing grooves promised a certain amount of chaos.

Instead, 22-year-old Chase Elliott rolled to victory in one of the quietest races the venue has ever seen.

The three cautions tied for the fewest at Kansas Speedway, and two of those were planned competition cautions after the end of the first two stages. The other caution was for track cleanup after a car blew a motor.

That’s right: this day was filled with all racing and no wrecks.

It was the second win in the last three races for Elliott, son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott. His win at Dover two weeks ago secured Elliott’s position in the Round of 8. Sunday’s victory propelled him to fourth, three points clear of Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano in the battle to make the final cutoff.

Everyone was chasing Kevin Harvick for most of the afternoon on Sunday. But Harvick was penalized for speeding on pit row during the final round of green-flag pit stops.

Elliott filled that void and never looked back.

“We got lucky with Kevin’s misfortune there,” Elliott said. “I wish we could’ve raced him straight up to see who was better. I felt like we were fairly close to him that second-to-last run. I was working hard to keep up and be close if an opportunity arose, and luckily it worked out.”

The win put Elliott in some select company. He became just the second driver to win three Cup races before the age of 23, joining Kyle Busch, who finished second Sunday.

Beyond that, Elliott became the first person not named Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. or Kyle Busch to win at Kansas Speedway since 2015.

Elliott might not have been considered a serious championship contender a few short weeks ago.

But that was then.

“Momentum is nice. I’d rather have it than not have it,” Elliott said. “Still, we’re at a pretty big points deficit behind (Kyle Busch) and (Harvick), and some other guys. If we just keep running with them every week, we’ll give ourselves a chance. And that’s all we can ask for. We’re going to keep the hammer down and try to keep as much pressure on as we can and see how it plays out.”

Bowyer, from Emporia, Kan., continued his struggles at Kansas Speedway. He started the day on the points bubble. He made the cut, but his 13th-place finish left almost no room for error.

“I struggle here. It (stinks) because it’s home, but personally I struggle here. All four (Stewart-Haas) cars had fast Fords,” Bowyer said. “For whatever reason, whenever the race started, for whatever reason, when you get in dirty air and things like that, we just struggle to have the grip we need to compete on race day.”

Advancing is better than not advancing, but there’s plenty of work to be done to make the final cut of four drivers.

“We were good enough, barely,” Bowyer said. “That was a gift. You look at this round I needed to capitalize on Dover. When I didn’t do that after such a good run there, getting a bad finish, I was in trouble. I had a good showing at Talladega, and that’s what saved us. There’s nobody more sick right now than me. This is a hometown crowd, and you want to run good here.”

Bowyer has two wins this season. He will likely need a third in the next three races to compete for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title.

This story was originally published October 21, 2018 at 6:23 PM.