By the time Chase Elliott climbed out his car after a celebratory burnout, yanked off his helmet and started his post-race TV interview, the right words were still difficult to come by.
“Unbelievable,” Elliott said. “How about that? Are you kidding me? I’ve never in my life. I’ve never in my life. This is unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable” might be a stretch with as much chaos as occurred June 28. But yes, following a 44-race winless streak, the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports is back in Victory Lane.
With a push from teammate Alex Bowman and a last-lap pass of Brad Keselowski, Elliott won the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway, his home track.
Keselowski and Bowman ranked second and third, respectively.
The event featured 45 lead changes and 10 cautions.
“I just think that, honestly, all the cars fell in the right places there those last couple laps,” Elliott said. “What a crazy race, man. I don’t know if y’all had fun, but it was wild from my seat. Glad we got to run that thing out there till the end.”
Let’s break it down with three takeaways.
1. Chase Elliott ends year-long winless streak
Elliott survived Saturday.
He shook off a rain delay, sprinted back to the front pack late after leading 39 laps earlier in the evening and closed as one of only four cars not involved in a wreck.
It’s the second career win at Atlanta for the 32-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia, native. He now holds 20 Cup Series victories.
But prior to the Quaker State 400, he had not collected one since April 14, 2024, at Texas Motor Speedway.
“Thank you guys so much,” Elliott said. “Just what a special car … It was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget.”
2. NASCAR in-season tournament flipped by Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe eliminations
Well, a plate race as the first event of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge always possessed volatile potential.
And it delivered. The top two seeds — Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe — lost their head-to-head matchups, dropping them from the 32-person bracket in the first round. Hamlin placed 31st at Atlanta, and Briscoe followed in 35th.
Hamlin lost to Ty Dillon, who finished eighth. Briscoe fell to Noah Gragson, who ranked 25th. Other notable drivers who were knocked out: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Ryan Blaney.
The tournament will continue for four more weeks, with the field slicing in half each round. As No. 3, Chris Buescher remains the top seed standing.
3. NASCAR schedule: What’s next?
NASCAR heads back to the road next week.
The Cup Series will run the Grant Park 165 — aka the Chicago Street Race — at 2 p.m. July 6. The 75 laps will span 165 miles through Chicago.
This will be the third iteration of the race. In 2023, Shane van Gisbergen ran away with it in his NASCAR debut. Last year, Bowman brought home the victory. He is still searching for his first win since then.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR results: Chase Elliott is Quaker State 400 race winner