Chase Elliott continues road course domination with Jockey 250 win

Want to win money easily? Just bet on Chase Elliott winning on a road course.

Elliott dominated the final stage of Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 to win his second straight road race and seventh of his career, and become the first NASCAR Cup Series race winner at Road America since Tim Flock in 1956 (then the lone instance of Cup racing at the Wisconsin circuit).

Hendrick Motorsports team-mates William Byron and Kyle Larson qualified on the front row, while Elliott started thirty-fourth after being unable to set a qualifying lap before time expired, a fate that also befell others like Saturday’s Xfinity Series winner Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe. Busch would have started at the back regardless as he switched to a backup car following a wreck in practice, as did Ryan Preece. Bubba Wallace (transmission change), Justin Haley (engine change), Kyle Tilley, Josh Bilicki, and Quin Houff (all unapproved adjustments) were also ordered to the rear.

Byron led every lap in the opening stage. Daniel Suárez was not as fortunate as a transmission issue caused him to stop on track on lap four, resulting in a caution, before going to the garage. Tilley also produced a yellow flag when he drove into the gravel. By the end of the segment, Byron led A.J. Allmendinger, Larson, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, and Elliott. Allmendinger did not receive stage points as he is running for the Xfinity championship.

Xfinity regular Austin Cindric took the lead to begin the second stage, though his day came to an end early in the final segment due to a gear issue. Matt DiBenedetto led laps before Kyle Busch assumed the position. Busch and many drivers elected to pit before the stage break, allowing Reddick to inherit the lead and stage win. Byron, Ross Chastain, Larson, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Wallace, Haley, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten.

DiBenedetto paced the grid to open Stage #3. Elliott took the lead on lap 38 and held the spot until Anthony Alfredo‘s left-rear brake rotor failed and caused him to beach in a gravel trap. The restart came on lap 46 with Elliott leading, and he would develop a considerable margin of over five seconds on Bell en route to his thirteenth career win and seventh on a road course.

Since his win at Watkins Glen in 2019, Elliott has scored six more road race victories in the next nine. His seven RC wins moves him into third on the all-time win list behind Tony Stewart‘s eight and Hendrick executive Jeff Gordon‘s nine. Elliott also secured Hendrick’s seventh win in the last ten races.

“We really kind of struggled yesterday and never got into a good rhythm I didn’t feel like on my end,” said Elliott in his post-race press conference. “I thought we could be a little better with the car. Made a lot of changes overnight, kind of started the day, I thought that I liked it. But I just still wasn’t in a good rhythm. About halfway, I felt like I started to kind of put things together, start minimising some mistakes I’d been making all weekend, then started finding some pace.

“After that, it got fun. I was able to get a flow going, get in rhythm. Then from there we were able to get on, we kind of got caught up from our bad starting spot, got on the same strategy as the leaders. From there, we were able to go to work. Had things going good enough to keep up and get by those guys.

“[…] Our team has a whole has been good at road courses the whole time, too. Kyle (Larson) won at Sonoma. I feel like drivers are only as good as what they have to drive. Fortunately, I feel like I’ve got the best stuff and just got to make it work.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	34	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
2	13	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	62	Running
3	40	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	62	Running
4	16	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
5	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	62	Running
6	35	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	62	Running
7	8	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
8	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
9	9	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	62	Running
10	7	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	62	Running
11	37	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
12	38	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
13	20	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	62	Running
14	19	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	62	Running
15	14	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	62	Running
16	2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
17	15	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	62	Running
18	12	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	62	Running
19	21	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
20	17	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	62	Running
21	23	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
22	10	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
23	27	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	62	Running
24	36	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	62	Running
25	22	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
26	39	96	Ty Dillon*	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	62	Running
27	25	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	62	Running
28	26	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
29	3	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
30	18	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	62	Running
31	29	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
32	28	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	62	Running
33	1	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Running
34	33	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	62	Running
35	30	78	Kyle Tilley	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	60	Running
36	11	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	53	Running
37	24	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	42	Brakes
38	5	33	Austin Cindric*	Team Penske	Ford	35	Rear Gear
39	31	53	Ryan Eversley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	27	Rear Gear
40	32	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	6	Engine

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points