Hendrick Motorsports had an impressive start to the 2024 Cup Series campaign. With all their four drivers in the top 10 after the first eight races, Rick Hendrick couldn’t have asked for more. However, it did get better with Chase Elliott triumphing in the race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

In a race marred by cautions, Elliott came out victorious after an intense fight. Once again, the Cup Series race went into overtime this season, building plenty of suspense until the very last lap. Had it not been for a Denny Hamlin wreck in the final lap of the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver could have registered his third victory of the 2024 season.

Chase Elliott returns to victory lane in grand fashion at Texas Motor Speedway

It is no secret how the 2023 campaign was a painful one for Chase Elliott and his fans. Missing out on qualifying in the playoffs for the first time in his career must have been heartbreaking. But fortunately, he is now back in the running for the Cup title.

As this weekend started, Elliott’s chances for a victory on a Sunday looked bleak given his P24 starting position, especially with teammate Kyle Larson taking the pole position in qualifying.

Larson led the pack on Sunday hunting for his second win of the 2024 Cup Series campaign. Since he had won at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2021, the Hendrick Motorsports driver knew what it takes to win at the track. But, it seems, he would have found the race a bit tough, going wheel to wheel with P2-placed Ty Gibbs.

After 34 laps, both Larson and Gibbs ran away from the pack with a gap of more than five seconds from P3-placed Christopher Bell. What was more amazing was how teams opted to pit from the 34th lap onwards. While that happened, an unexpected incident happened on the pit road.

A big fire in the pits was observed on a trail of fuel. Fortunately, the pit crew used leaf blowers to blow it out, keeping the race under the green flag. Unluckily, this prohibited Ty Gibbs from pitting during that very lap. This eventually led to Gibbs falling nine seconds behind Larson, when he was only a second behind before the halt.

While Gibbs was unfortunate there, so was Jimmie Johnson. The 48-year-old racing in just his second Cup Series race this year spun in turn 4, resulting in the race’s first yellow caution. On the other hand, Martin Truex Jr’s poor luck continued as he was forced to pit for the second time in the first stage with a loose wheel.

Interestingly, it was a common issue in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp. Even Ty Gibbs had to pit with a loose wheel in the 54th lap. Surely, this must not have gone down well with Joe Gibbs. Fortunately for Larson, he led the field to the green, with Bell behind him.

As the first stage came to a close, Denny Hamlin picked up pace and passed Tyler Reddick for the third position. While Hamlin gained positions, the opposite happened to William Byron. The in-form HMS driver dropped three positions to ninth as he lost grip on his front tires.

While Byron struggled, his teammate Larson ultimately ended up as the Stage 1 winner. It was his fifth stage victory of the 2024 campaign. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Chase Briscoe followed him to complete the top five after Stage 1 completion.

Post the end of the first stage, teams opted for different strategies. This saw Ryan Blaney, Austin Hill, Chris Buescher, and Ty Gibbs staying out while others pitted. This even resulted in the defending Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, leading the field to the green in the 89th lap.

With Stage 2 truly in motion, disappointments continued at Texas. In the 96th lap, Bubba Wallace got loose, falling from P15 to P20. Even Austin Hill looked to struggle with a steering issue as he headed to the pit road in the 99th lap. However, bigger problems were witnessed in the 101st lap.

After spinning off Turn 4, Christopher Bell hit the wall. Eventually, this resulted in the collision of Alex Bowman and John Hunter Nemechek. Unfortunately, all three cars suffered significant damage, with the #48 team retiring after the incident.

As for Bell, he met the minimum speed and stayed in the race after his repairs. He resumed two laps down in the P35 position. For John Hunter Nemechek, he found himself at the tail end of the lead lap. While Texas resumed from Bell’s incident, Carson Hocevar spun in the 114th lap, bringing out another caution.

However, the biggest surprise came when the race was under caution. Leader Kyle Larson saw his right-rear wheel come off. Unfortunately for the #5 driver, this resulted in a two-lap penalty. While it was unforeseen, it did take away Larson’s wonderfully maintained lead.

The incident allowed Denny Hamlin to take the lead in the 119th lap. While the race just resumed from a caution, Josh Berry spun in the 121st lap as he got the front end chopped by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Berry suffered heavy damage to the left as a result of the incident.

Post the restart, Hamlin led the front row with Martin Truex Jr. However, moments later, Ross Chastain made a terrific surge and passed Truex Jr for P2. While the action was heating up at the front, Berry once again spun in Turn 2 in the 137th lap, bringing out another caution. Unfortunately, the incident ended the #4 team’s day at Texas.

As the race restarted with Ross Chastain leading the field, another incident rocked the race. Michael McDowell spun and rammed into the wall in Turn 4 after hitting a bump. While the race went under caution once again, it allowed Kyle Larson to make up 1 out of the 2 laps he lost under penalty.

Unfortunately for McDowell, the incident ended his race on Sunday. However, things looked interesting in the front as Chastain continued to keep his lead. Despite some late efforts from Bubba Wallace to pass the #1 driver, the Trackhouse Racing sensation went on to win Stage 2.

It was Chastain’s first stage win of the 2024 campaign. Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, and Chase Briscoe followed the 31-year-old to complete the top five after Stage 2. After an eventful second stage, the majority of the drivers opted to pit with the remaining staying out.

Still, the incidents in Texas looked far from over. While Bubba Wallace led the field in the 173rd lap, he was involved in a wreck with Chase Briscoe almost instantly. This happened when Harrison Burton passed both drivers for the lead.

With 91 laps remaining at Texas Motor Speedway, the race had already witnessed nine cautions. Interestingly, five of the last six races at the track ended up in double-digit cautions. With the way things were going, going into double-digit cautions looked only a matter of time.

Amazingly, it did not take time for the caution forecast to come true. In the 181st lap, John Hunter Nemechek ran into the wall keeping the field green. However, it was Ryan Blaney who spun into the wall, bringing out the caution, and giving Kaz Grala the free pass.

As 83 laps remained in the race, Tyler Reddick led the pack, with Burton and Hamlin running behind him. At the same time, after serving his two-lap penalty, Larson finally broke into the top 20. The HMS surge only got stronger when Chase Elliott marched to P3 with 78 laps left in the race.

While the race for the lead was getting stronger, Tyler Reddick was making a strong statement. The 23XI Racing driver was running laps half a second faster than every car on the track. With 55 laps remaining, Reddick had a five-second lead over Denny Hamlin.

A lap later, both Hamlin and Reddick decided to pit. Unfortunately for the #45 driver, the stop was too slow. Despite Hamlin entering the pit road six seconds behind, the #11 driver exited a couple of seconds ahead of Reddick. The pit stop certainly turned out to be a game-changer.

Luckily, it didn’t hamper Reddick’s chances, as it took very little time for him to clear Hamlin. While things turned around for the #45 driver, the same did not happen for Martin Truex Jr. For the second time in the race, the #19 driver had to pit because of a loose wheel issue.

Speaking of misfortunes, even John Hunter Nemechek crashed for the third time in the race in the 229th lap. It ended the race for the #42 driver. The resulting caution turned out to be quite the game-changer, given what happened next.

As Tyler Reddick led the field to the green, both Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott attacked for the lead. Eventually, the #9 driver gained momentum and led the pack with 28 laps remaining. Safe to say, that was a commendable restart from the Hendrick Motorsports star.

With time, the race only got more intense. In the 242nd lap, Brad Keselowski passed Ross Chastain to take the P4 position. At the same time, with 22 laps remaining, Denny Hamlin passed Chase Elliott to take the lead. Keselowski pushed for a strong fight to not only pass Elliott but also to stay in range to pass Hamlin.

It was worth noting that Keselowski has been without a win for almost three years now. With fresh tires at his disposal, the RFK Racing driver gave it all to end his winless drought. Keselowski’s hope only got stronger with a caution coming out with 13 laps remaining.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun off Turn 2. With 31 cars on the lead lap, it was interesting to see the ones interested in pitting. Denny Hamlin clearly indicated to his team his desire to stay out before the restart. Clearly, the race was poised for a sensational finish.

With eight laps remaining post the restart, Chase Elliott took the lead. However, another caution came into play as Kyle Larson wrecked on the restart after coming into contact with Zane Smith. Despite leading the pack at the beginning of the race and winning Stage 1, it turned out to be a nightmare of a race for Larson.

Post the restart, it was a nail-biting affair. While both Elliott and Hamlin battled for the lead, the latter spun and hit the wall, taking the race to overtime. It was for the third weekend in a row that NASCAR headed to overtime. Post the restart, Keselowski, Chastain, and Byron joined Elliott for one final run.

However, that was not to happen. Post the overtime restart, Harrison Burton and Kaz Grala wreck resulting in the 15th caution of the race. Chase Elliott still remained the leader before the caution came out. While suspense kept the fans clinging to the screen, on came the restart.

Ross Chastain gave a strong fight for the lead but eventually, Chase Elliott triumphed. In the process, Chastain got wrecked with the race ending under a caution. The victory came as a huge sigh of relief for Elliott as he returned to the victory lane for the first time since 2022.

Interestingly, this ended the #9 driver’s 42-race winless streak. Having said that, it could have been a lot different had it not been a caution-heavy affair.

Chase Elliott registers an emphatic victory as cautions dominate at Texas Motor Speedway

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It is no secret that the pressure to win was building on Chase Elliott ever since he missed the playoffs last season. While he looked competitive in the first eight races, he looked short of confidence. However, it all turned around this Sunday as he posed a strong fight to register his first-ever win at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Needless to say, cautions played a crucial role in the #9 driver’s win on Sunday. In the past few years, plenty of cautions have been more often than witnessed in Texas. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, the race had 11, 16, and 11 cautions respectively. Unsurprisingly, it was no different on Sunday.

The 2024 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 witnessed 15 cautions, with a late Denny Hamlin wreck being one of them. Until the very final laps, Hamlin and Chase Elliott were toe-to-toe in their bid to win the race. Had he not spun then, it would have been interesting to see who could have turned out victorious in the end.

Nevertheless, it was a victory well deserved by Elliott. Not only that, with this win, he climbs to the third position in the standings.

Hopefully, Chase Elliott will build strongly on this emphatic victory and have a solid 2024 campaign. After all, who wouldn’t mind the Cup Series Most Popular Driver to once again win the championship?