Chase Elliott outgunned the field in his No. 9 NASCAR Chevy on June 28th, 2025, at his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway. Elliott held off Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, to break a 44-race winless streak dating back to last year’s victory at Texas over a year ago. And the only reason he made it was because he didn’t get swept into a dramatic crash that probably should have wiped him out.
A massive wreck took out more than half of the 40-car field on Lap 69 after Chris Buescher’s Ford slammed into Elliott’s side, including the NASCAR Chevy race cars of Ross Chastain, and William Byron. Byron retired from the race after this crash, finishing 36 laps down.
But Elliott survived the contact. It was his second victory at Atlanta, but he had to fight for it. In fact, thanks to a push from his NASCAR Chevy teammate, Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Chevy, Elliott won over Keselowski – who had no Blue Ovals around him to help – by a mere 0.170 seconds. Even Elliott himself seemed shocked that he’d pulled it off, solidifying his position in the In-Season Challenge, which pits 32 of the Cup Series’ drivers against one another with a $1 million prize at the end.
“Unbelievable… unbelievable. How about that? Are you kidding me?” Elliott exclaimed after exiting his race car. “I’ve never in my life… This is unbelievable. Thank you guys so much!”
He added, “What a special car, and just a huge thanks to [sponsor] NAPA Auto Parts and everything they do for me and to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. [Cancer patient] Rhealynn Mills designed the fast NAPA Chevrolet tonight, so this was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget.”
While Elliott was out front when the checkered flag waved on the race, he missed out on the Stage 2 victory by a mere 0.001 seconds, finishing the stage behind the No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry of Tyler Reddick.
Overall, the race featured 46 lead changes among 13 drivers. Elliott led nine times for 41 laps. In the final standings, Keselowski was the runner-up, Bowman finished third, Reddick finished fourth, and the Toyota of Erik Jones rounded out the top five.
Comment
It was a FRANTASTIC, exciting race, plenty of pile ups, wrecks every where, kept me interested all race.