Elliott Captures the Victory at Texas Motor Speedway

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Prime Video team won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after starting 14th.
• Elliott finished stage one in eighth and followed that up with a stage two win – his first of the season.
• The 30-year-old driver led a total of 87 laps on the day, including the final four circuits after a late-race restart.
• It was Elliott’s 23rd career Cup Series win and his second victory of the season.
• The Dawsonville, Georgia, native posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 176 with a time of 28.89 seconds.
• With the win, Elliott improved to third in the Cup Series point standings.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Prime Video team qualified 14th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott’s No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet showed speed early in the race. The 30-year-old driver improved to 10th by lap 23. He relayed that he overbuilt the right-rear tire prior to pitting for four fresh tires and fuel under the green flag on lap 35. He was scored seventh once the field cycled through pit stops on lap 43 and was running eighth when the first caution of the race came out on lap 68 for an incident. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. With some cars staying out, Elliott restarted from 12th on lap 75 and maneuvered to eighth to end stage one on lap 80.

The No. 9 Prime Video team opted not to pit during the stage-ending caution, which put Elliott fifth to choose his lane to start the second stage. He took the green flag from the outside of row three on lap 89 and quickly advanced to fourth, where he remained until the caution flag was displayed on lap 93. Elliott brought the No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet to pit road for right-side tires and fuel. He was the first car off pit road but lined up eighth for the restart due to some teams not pitting. Elliott improved to sixth before the race was slowed again by a yellow flag on lap 101. After staying out, he restarted sixth on lap 107 and quickly gained ground on the cars ahead, taking over the second position on lap 114. Elliott held the point for the first time in the race on lap 152 when the leader was forced to visit pit road due to being low on fuel. The driver of the No. 9 Prime Video Chevy was still out front when the caution came out on lap 160. After pitting for four tires and fuel, Elliott restarted third with just one lap remaining in the second stage and retook the lead for his first stage win of the season on lap 165.

Elliott remained on track during the stage break and led the field back to green on lap 173. He remained out front until a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 215. Elliott retook the lead once the long pit cycle was complete on lap 239 and continued to run point until the caution came out for an incident with just 11 laps remaining. The team made the call not to visit pit road, along with seven other teams. Elliott cleared for the lead after the restart with just four laps to go and never looked back, taking the checkered flag for his second Cup Series victory of the season.

“Man, first off, thanks everybody for coming out,” Elliott said immediately after the win. “Great crowd, as always. I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I’ve made that very obvious, but we continue to work hard. I really think this is a testament to the whole No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet team. But not just the No. 9 team, but everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve not been where we wanted to be throughout portions of the season, but everybody’s just been digging in really hard – from the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports to all the setup shops and everybody at Team Chevy.

“It’s just crazy. As much as we’ve struggled at Texas, to have won two races here now in the last few years, is pretty wild. Just super grateful for all the people that helped make this possible and looking forward to celebrating with them.”

The 2020 Cup Series champion improved to third in the point standings with the win. It was his 23rd premier series victory and his second triumph at Texas.

Start / Finish: 14 / 1
Points Standing / Total: 3rd / 409 pts. (-117)

Next Race: Sunday, May 10, Watkins Glen International
How to Watch or Listen: 3:00 p.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM or MRN

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Chase Elliott: @ChaseElliott
Hendrick Motorsports: @TeamHendrick
No. 9 Team: @Hendrick9Team