Chase Elliott snaps oval drought with Dover win

Chase Elliott is regarded as one of the top road course racers in the NASCAR Cup Series, but also has a pretty solid oval résumé with six wins on such tracks entering the DuraMAX Drydene 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, the site of his maiden oval triumph in 2018. However, he had not won on an oval since the final race of the 2020 season at Phoenix to claim the chanpionship. Over a year and thirty-nine oval starts later, he returned to Dover and finally snapped that drought as he led the final fifty-three laps of a rain-delayed event to win for the first time in 2022.

Stages #1 and 2

Kyle Larson inherited the top spot from a pitting Denny Hamlin shortly before the race was red flagged on Sunday and pushed to Monday following seventy-eight laps for rain. He continued to lead when it resumed twenty hours later on lap 84, only for another pause four circuits later when Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland spun. A good restart by Elliott propelled him past his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Larson.

Hamlin reclaimed the lead on lap 113 and eventually the stage win ahead of Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Larson, William Byron, pole winner Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski. However, the leader’s race collapsed between segments when his left-front tyre came off as he was exiting pit road, which will result in a four-race suspension for crew chief Chris Gabehart and the crewmen who failed to tighten its lug nut.

With Hamlin penalised, Chastain assumed the lead alongside Bell, only for the latter to suffer the same fate as his Joe Gibbs Racing ally Hamlin as he pitted for a loose wheel. Larson crashed on lap 156 for the first caution of Stage #2, followed by Kurt Busch hitting the wall thirty laps later and Joey Logano on the ensuing restart.

Brief periods of Justin Haley and Bowman leading ended upon Kyle Busch, who was celebrating his thirty-seventh birthday, taking the spot on lap 212. As the end of the stage approached, Tyler Reddick and Ty Dillon suffered downed tyres that forced them to pit. With nine laps remaining, Cody Ware spun off turn four and Hamlin attempted to avoid him by ducking to the apron, but Ware’s car slid down the racing surface and contact occurred anyway.

Despite having older tyres, Blaney led for the green flag and until the stage’s conclusion. Busch, Bowman, Truex, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chastain, Erik Jones, Harrison Burton, Buescher, and Elliott rounded out the top ten.

Stage #3

Busch and Bowman led the field to the restart, and the former remained in front until a debris caution came out for A.J. Allmendinger losing his right-front wheel lap 325. Hamlin’s day worsened when he was caught speeding on pit road during following stops.

Contact between Daniel Suárez and Corey LaJoie led to the former’s spin and a lap 335 caution. Suárez’s Trackhouse Racing Team partner Chastain led before another yellow flag for Reddick’s crash on lap 343, from which Elliott cleared Chastain for first on the ensuing green.

Truex spun on the final lap to end the race under caution and secure Elliott his fourteenth career victory and second at Dover.

“Had some good circumstances finally,” said Elliott. “Really appreciate Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and our entire team for just sticking with it. We’’e had some tough races over the last, I don’t know, four, five months. Just great to get NAPA back to Victory Lane, great to get Hendrick Motorsports back to Victory Lane.

“Just so proud. This one means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort. […] Like I told them after the race, those guys, they’ve been deserving of one for a while. Glad we could get across the line first. We’ll enjoy it for a few days and go to work next week.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	4	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
2	15	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
3	7	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	400	Running
4	17	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
5	6	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
6	3	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
7	10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
8	1	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	400	Running
9	11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
10	25	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
11	14	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
12	18	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
13	23	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
14	8	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	400	Running
15	30	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
16	9	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	399	Running
17	29	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	399	Running
18	21	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	399	Running
19	27	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	399	Running
20	20	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	399	Running
21	2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	399	Running
22	33	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	399	Running
23	24	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	398	Running
24	35	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	398	Running
25	13	15	Ryan Preece*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	398	Running
26	5	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	397	Running
27	31	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	396	Running
28	34	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	396	Running
29	22	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	396	Running
30	26	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	390	Running
31	16	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	388	Running
32	36	77	Josh Bilicki*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	381	Running
33	19	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	321	Brakes
34	28	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	238	DVP
35	32	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	167	Brakes
36	12	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	91	DVP

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