NASCAR COTA: Elliott takes rain-shortened win in chaotic race

Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports team went for a splash and dash stop near the beginning of the final stage and were likely to end up two laps short on fuel to make it to the finish.

Fortunately for the reigning Cup champion, heavy rain brought out the second red-flag of the race and NASCAR called its first race at the US Grand Prix Formula 1 venue complete after just 54 of the scheduled 68 laps.

Had the race remained green, Elliott would either have likely run out of fuel or been forced to pit under green for at least a splash of fuel and give up the lead.

The win was his first of the year, ensuring all four HMS drivers have now secured at least one win this season.

"I couldn't be more excited - I've never won a rain race before, so that's cool," Elliott said.

"I'm just super-proud of mine and their ability to continue to fight. When we started we weren't very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making changes throughout the day where I thought we were on pace with the other guys at the end.

"I'm looking forward to next week and trying to make it continue."

Asked about being short on fuel if the race went the distance, Elliott said, "I just kept pushing myself harder harder. There were some areas on the track that were very treacherous I felt like. The backstretch was puddling up and we were started to hydroplane and some other weird stuff.

"My only option was to just kind of send it through those spots and just hope for the best."

Race winner Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro LLumar

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

In 14 career road course starts in the Cup series, Elliott has now won six of them, including five of the past six.

With the win, Hendrick Motorsports has now matched Petty Enterprises on the all-time wins list in the Cup series with 268 victories.

Kyle Larson ended up second, Joey Logano third, Ross Chastain fourth and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top -10 were Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, pole-winner Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch.

The race was filled with plenty of incident triggered by rain and poor visibility. 

On lap 17 of the race, Christopher Bell ran into the back of Ryan Blaney and spun out.

Kevin Harvick slowed down to avoid the incident but an unsighted Bubba Wallace continued unawares and ploughed into the back of Harvick's car, destroying both machines.

Just a few laps later, Martin Truex Jr ran into the back of Michael McDowell and sustained significant front-end damage. Cole Custer then slammed into the back of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, sending Truex's car airborne, while Custer's ignited into flames after a secondary impact with the barrier lining the straight.

Both were fortunately able to climb from their cars, unhurt, as the red flags arrived.

Results

Cla	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Gap
1	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	54
2	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	54	15.656
3	Joey Logano	Ford	54	27.331
4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	54	33.696
5	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	54	47.118
6	Chase Briscoe	Ford	54	52.740
7	Michael McDowell	Ford	54	54.488
8	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	54	56.859
9	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	54	58.889
10	Kyle Busch	Toyota	54	1'01.557
11	William Byron	Chevrolet	54	1'03.370
12	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	54	1'15.418
13	Chris Buescher	Ford	54	1'15.880
14	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	54	1'23.545
15	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	54	1'24.849
16	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	54	1'26.265
17	Ryan Blaney	Ford	54	1'28.864
18	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	54	1'31.221
19	Brad Keselowski	Ford	54	1'42.037
20	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	54	1'46.867
21	Ty Dillon	Toyota	54	1'49.225
22	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	54	1'50.201
23	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	54	1'59.723
24	Ryan Newman	Ford	54	2'10.427
25	Austin Cindric	Ford	54	2'14.703
26	Aric Almirola	Ford	54	2'21.869
27	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	54	2'22.785
28	Garrett Smithley	Ford	54	2'47.385
29	James Davison	Chevrolet	54	2'48.899
30	Josh Bilicki	Ford	54	2'53.380
31	Kyle Tilley	Ford	54	3'27.398
32	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	53	1 Lap
33	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	46	8 Laps
34	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	38	16 Laps
35	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	24	30 Laps
36	Cole Custer	Ford	24	30 Laps
37	Kevin Harvick	Ford	19	35 Laps
38	Christopher Bell	Toyota	18	36 Laps
39	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	18	36 Laps
40	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	12	42 Laps
View full results