Motorsport TechnologyChase Elliott secured a dramatic overtime win in Kansas to keep his championship hopes alive, passing five Toyotas late on and take the chequered flag in Kansas City.
With a green-white-checkered, double-overtime flag finish looming and five Toyotas at the front, Elliott rocketed to the top at the drop of the green flag and never lifted.
Picking his was steadily through the pack, Elliott pulled off a stunning three-wide pass including some contact with Denny Hamlin out of the final turn to take his second win of the 2025 and a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8.
“Just, everything worked out perfect for me,” Elliott is quoted on the official Hendrick Motorsports website. “I had a great push through (turns) one and two, that kind of all started with (Brad Keselowski) and had a big run off of (turn two). The seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it. And obviously, we still had pretty good tires compared to those guys.”
Both Hendrick teammates Larson and Elliott started with a strong shout at victory, having qualifying third and fourth respectively on Saturday.
And it was Elliott who snatched the lead on the stage three restart, leading 23 laps before succumbing to Hamlin on a long run. A debris caution with 15 laps remaining sent the field down pit road. The top eight, including Byron, chose to take two tires while Elliott and Larson took four.
A Carson Hocevar crash with seven laps to go necessitated a first attempt at an overtime finish. But just as the field was coming off of turn four to take the white flag, Zane Smith got turned vertically along the wall and flipped down the racetrack, bringing out a red flag.
At the restart, Elliott jumped to Byron’s outside getting into turn one and cleared both Byron and Larson on the back stretch, moving into fifth past Tyler Reddick as the white flag flew.
Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace then made contact at the front of the field, slowing Bell’s momentum and Elliott passed Bell for fourth before diving to Briscoe’s inside entering turn one.
Briscoe scraped the wall coming out of turn two with Elliott clearing into third. In the final corner, Hamlin dove under Wallace and got tight, pushing both up the race track and allowing Elliott to dive to the bottom before clearing in the tri-oval.
Larson emerged from the late chaos unscathed and now has a 54-point advantage on the cutline heading into next week’s Round of 12 finale. Byron too is in good shape, 40 markers to the good in sixth place in the standings.
The Round of 12 will conclude at the Charlotte ROVAL next Sunday.
How Hendrick Motorsports protects data for the playoff run
In the cutthroat world of NASCAR, keeping critical competitive data safe is paramount. Protecting Hendrick Motorsports’ data is Acronis, the team’s official cyber protection Partner, which supports the team’s systems and race operations with cyber backup and disaster recovery solutions.
The multi-year relationship now includes IT distributor Climb Channel Solutions, whose branding appears on William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet in select events, underscoring a strategic commitment to IT security and resilience. The Acronis cybersecurity platform empowers Hendrick to maintain competitive focus, helping safeguard sensitive racing analytics and operational information.
Hendrick Motorsports is poised for another deep playoff run, reflecting decades of engineering, teamwork and partnerships that deliver both performance and protection in NASCAR’s most demanding moments.
