Chase Elliott was the top placed Chevrolet driver in Sunday night’s South Point Casino 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving his Hendrick Motorsports team and him confidence they can secure a berth into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
The race was won by Martin Truex Jr., who went off strategy after starting 24th overall and slowly worked his way through the field. The Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota driver led 38 laps en route to the win, outdueling the Stewart-Haas Ford of Kevin Harvick and the Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski, who finished second and third, respectively.
“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.”
“Hell of a way to make a championship run,” he added. “Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’
Elliott was happy with his car all night long but took some damage on a restart and was nursing his car to the finish to avoid cutting a tire, the 23-year-old told NASCAR post-race. Elliott was one of four Chevy drivers in the top ten, with Alex Bowman, William Byron and Kyle Larson finishing sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues with the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond on September 21st.
Check out the video embedded below for complete highlights from the South Point Casino 400 from Las Vegas.
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Comment
He was on a speed tier right there with Logano, Harvick, and Truex.