NASCAR Cup: Chase Elliott Just Stole Denny Hamlin’s 60th Career Win At Kansas

Your favorite driver just beat Denny Hamlin. Well, odds are he’s your favorite driver.

Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, pulled off an amazing last-lap move to the front to win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway and punch his ticket to the playoffs Round of 8.

Elliott started the race in fourth behind Chase Briscoe, Hamlin and Kyle Larson and spent most of the day watching Hamlin dominate the race.

Hamlin won both stages and was on his way to the win with 12 laps to go, despite having lost his power steering assist, when Carson Hocevar hit the wall and brought out the yellow flag.

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The leaders pitted for tires, but Hamlin’s stop went bad when his jackman — who was filling in for his regular one who was suspended for a loose wheel at Bristol — had trouble and Hamlin dropped to seventh for the restart. Hamlin and most of the front cars took two tires, but Elliott opted for four.

Hamlin moved up to fifth after the restart when another caution period came with seven laps to go. That was followed by John Hunter Nemechek running Zane Smith into the Turn 3 wall and onto his size. Smith rode the wall through the turn, then rolled twice down the banking and landed upright. He was unhurt, but there was a red flag before the overtime restart.

Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell were on the front row, followed by Tyler Reddick, Briscoe, Larson and Hamlin, with Elliott in eighth.

Wallace got away from Bell as Hamlin moved through the field with Elliott not far behind. Hamlin got alongside Wallace on the last lap and moved him up the track in the final turn, but lost momentum and opened the door for Elliott to pass him on the inside. The two bumped coming out of the turn, but Elliott stayed ahead for the win.

“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who picked up his second win of the season, his second at Kansas and the 21st of his career. “Had a great push through 1 and 2. That kind of all started with the 6 [Brad Keselowski]. Big run off of 2. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up,” Elliott said during his post-race interview on USA.

“I wasn’t going to lift, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point. We were both wide open corner exit. Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed.”

Read Also: DENNY HAMLIN THINKS NASCAR NEEDS THE PLAYOFFS, JUST A DIFFERENT KIND

The win was Elliott’s second of the season and 21st of his career. Hamlin finished second and one spot short of claiming his 60th career win, which would’ve tied him with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time list. “It’s just super disappointing, I wanted it bad,” Hamlin said.

Elliott and last week’s winner Ryan Blaney are locked into the playoffs Round of 8 with Larson leading the points ahead of Hamlin, Bell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano. Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric sit below the cut-line heading into the final race of the round at the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 5.

Full Results:

1. (4)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 273.
2. (2)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 273.
3. (5)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 273.
4. (1)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 273.
5. (7)  Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 273.
6. (3)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 273.
7. (12)  Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 273.
8. (31)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 273.
9. (11)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 273.
10. (24)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 273.
11. (9)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 273.
12. (23)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 273.
13. (33)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 273.
14. (21)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 273.
15. (15)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 273.
16. (10)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 273.
17. (30)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 273.
18. (22)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 273.
19. (29)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 273.
20. (27)  Cole Custer, Ford, 273.
21. (35)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 273.
22. (32)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 273.
23. (14)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 273.
24. (37)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 273.
25. (8)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 272.
26. (19)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 271.
27. (16)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 271.
28. (17)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 271.
29. (6)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 269.
30. (26)  Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 269.
31. (28)  Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 266.
32. (25)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 266.
33. (13)  Josh Berry, Ford, Accident, 266.
34. (36)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 261.
35. (18)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 236.
36. (20)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 216.
37. (34)  Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 52.