Chase Elliott had very bad luck qualifying for the Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip. However, he was able to turn that around in the race at the Road America road course.
Chase could not find his rhythm in the qualifying runs for the race. That put in position 34 to start the race with only six cars behind him and 33 in front of him.
Since this was the first time the Cup Series had raced on this track in nearly 65 years, everybody was experiencing a learning curve. The lessons being taught were when to break, how much to break, how much the track wore down the tires and more.
Chase seemed to be learning those lessons well and fairly quickly. He had worked his way up to 10th by the end of stage one. Chase was able to get to the very front and lead for the first time on lap 38 and held the lead for seven laps. He was then able to retake the lead on lap 46 and hold it for the final 17 laps of the 62 lap race. That gave Chase a race high 24-laps as the leader and more importantly the race win!
The win gives Chase two wins in the 2021 Cup Series season. Both wins have been on road courses. He won the inaugural Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas earlier this season. Chase has 13 career victories in NASCAR’s top division. Seven of those are now on road courses. That puts him in third place for road course wins all-time in the Cup Series behind Jeff Gordon (nine road course wins) and Tony Stewart (eight road course wins).
Christopher Bell finished the race as the runner-up. Kyle Busch who started the race from the 40th position was able to take home a third place finish. Kurt Busch claimed fourth place with Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five. See the complete race results for the Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip at Road America here.
There is just slight movement at the top of the point standings after Road America. Denny Hamlin remains the leader ahead of Kyle Larson. However, he is just three points in front. If he cannot hold the lead over the next six races to claim the regular season championship, his Playoff hopes could be in jeopardy. William Byron holds stead in third place in the point standings. Kyle Busch moves up to fourth place pushing Joey Logano back to fifth place. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is a trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart Sunday, July 11th.
By: Buck Stevens
