Here we go again, for the second time in four races, NASCAR is back in the Lone Star State. The last time the sport was in Texas, it was William Byron mastering the tricky turns of COTA. This time around, they took to the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway. Now, the big headline was William Byron getting his second Martinsville win in a 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick Motorsports. This past weekend in Texas, it was a popular driver getting back in Victory Lane for the first time in almost two years. Let’s discuss what happened this past Sunday in Texas.
A Chaotic Day in Texas:
For Sunday, it was Kyle Larson leading the field to green for the third week in a row. Right from the drop of the green flag, Larson had a fast racecar. Ty Gibbs also had a fast racecar, but Larson would drive away from Gibbs and win stage one. The only thing that would stop Larson would be a massive failure with the car. Well, that’s exactly what happened. Under a caution flag for the first incident of the day, the right rear tire of Larson’s car would fall completely off the car. Better to have it happen under caution than green flag conditions. For the entire tire falling off the car, Larson would have to serve a two-lap penalty. Eventually, Larson would make both of those laps up, but would not be in contention for the win.
Denny Hamlin would start to come into play after Larson had his issues and would lead the field to the restart on lap 119. There would be several more cautions throughout the stage, but ultimately Ross Chastain would win stage two. To begin the final stage, Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe would lead the field to green. On lap 173, both Wallace and Briscoe would spin together and bring out the caution. The laps would start winding down, and after some pit strategy, Tyler Reddick would lead the field to green on lap 235. On the restart, Chase Elliott would clear Reddick for the lead, followed by Denny Hamlin. Hamlin would pass Elliott for the lead on lap 245 but a caution for Ricky Stenhouse Jr spinning out of turn two would reset the field again.
This would set up a restart with Hamlin and Elliott on the front row, but the caution would fly again due to Larson spinning in turn one from contact with Zane Smith. Chase Elliott was ruled the leader after the restart. On lap 266, two laps to go, Elliott and Hamlin would lead the field to green. The field would get a clean restart as Hamlin and Elliott would fight side by side for the lead, but Hamlin would spin out and hit the wall in turn three, promoting a caution. Now the concern for Chase Elliott was fuel, did he save enough? On lap 275, Elliott and Chastain would bring the field to green for the final restart of the day. Elliott would clear Chastain off turn four and would not look back.
Chastain would end up getting spun out off of the nose of William Byron on the final lap, and the race would end under the 16th caution flag of the day. Finally, Chase Elliott was back in victory lane. After a 42-race winless streak, the wait is finally over for Elliott. Texas is easily not his best track, but that doesn’t matter to Elliott now. This is Elliott’s 19th career victory, all coming with Hendrick Motorsports. After a rough 2023 season for Elliott, this win is huge for Elliott. But what does it mean exactly for Chase Elliott?
What does this mean for Elliott?
As previously said, it has been 42 races since Chase Elliott has been in victory lane. In his post-race interview, you could tell that Elliott was emotional. He was grateful and thankful for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for sticking with him over the last year and a half. Elliott also made it apparent that it meant a lot to him to finally get a win with another sponsor of his, Hooters. Ever since the start of his career, Elliott has been backed by NAPA. He has won with most of his sponsors as the primary paint scheme on the car, all except for Hooters. Finally, Elliott has won with Hooters. Why is this important? In the early 1990’s, Hooters was the primary sponsor for Alan Kulwicki. In November of 1992, Kulwicki would win the Winston Cup Series Championship but was killed six months later in a plane crash.
This was a moment that Elliott has been wanting to accomplish since Hooters was signed as a sponsor for Elliott, he has now been able to honor Kulwicki with this win. For people who don’t watch the sport regularly, this is a huge deal for NASCAR. Outside of the fact that Elliott is the most popular driver, the fans are happy. Ratings have been up for almost every race this season compared to last year, the sport is doing great right now. In March of 2023, Elliott broke his right leg in a snowboarding accident. Elliott missed six races during that time, and never returned to form for the rest of the season. Now, Chase Elliott is back at the top of the mountain. But now, let’s discuss where NASCAR is heading next weekend.
What to Expect from Talladega:
Whether you’re a NASCAR diehard, a casual, or not a fan at all, you know the name Talladega. Talladega is the biggest oval on the Cup Series schedule, and possibly the most dangerous. NASCAR drivers have been described as Gladiators who are ready to go to war at any second. Well, Talladega is the one track that NASCAR drivers admit that they have a tiny bit of fear racing at. The style of racing that we see at Talladega is like what we see at Daytona and Atlanta, pack racing. When you have pack racing, there’s a good chance that a massive wreck will happen. Earlier this year, in the Daytona 500, a massive crash was triggered off the eventual winner, Willaim Byron, causing a 23-car pile-up. Don’t be surprised if something similar happens this coming weekend.
Realistically, anyone can win at Talladega. It has a massive reputation when it comes to first-time Cup Series winners or underdog winners. Over the last 15 years or so, Talladega has been dominated by Ford. Out of the last 30 Talladega races, 15 of those races have been won by Ford drivers. Coming into this weekend, Brad Keselowski is riding a career-long 107-race winless streak. Where was his last win? Talladega. Where was his first career win? Talladega. Keselowski currently has six Talladega wins, most of the active drivers. The Roush cars have been very fast on the last few trips to Daytona and Talladega, don’t be surprised if Brad Keselowski breaks his winless streak at Talladega this coming weekend.
