Elliott Wins at Dover, Locks Himself into Next Round of Playoffs

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Gander Outdoors 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the next round of the Playoffs.

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Elliott inherited the lead late in the race after a wreck took out some of the frontrunners with five laps to go.  After he stayed out on a previous caution, Elliott found himself on much older tires than Denny Hamlin when they took the green flag with two laps to go.

Elliott said the restart was his redemption for all the times he failed to win while leading on a late restart.

“I feel like I’ve messed it up enough times, and I thought, ‘man, here’s your opportunity to make it right and to do it right,’” Elliott said.  “Today just felt different; I felt more confident and I just felt excited about the opportunity instead of unsure what was going to happen.”

Elliott had to fight through the field all day after a tire penalty sent him to the back of the pack early in the race.

Elliott said his team worked on the car throughout the race and he had the speed when it mattered.

“We had a penalty there early, and fell behind,” Elliott said.  “Luckily had a fast enough car and a good strategy to get back.”

“To come back here and have the day we had and move on to the next round…we don’t have to worry about Talladega next week; it’s a hell of a day.”

Hamlin had two fresher tires than Elliott on the final restart, but wasn’t able to catch him in the final laps.

Hamlin said he was surprised Elliott’s car was so fast on much older tires.

“That old of tires…that’s amazing,” Hamlin said.  “I ran as hard as I could…and just couldn’t get beside him there.”

“Glad to see me and Chase can finish 1-2 here in a Playoff race and not have any controversy, so happy for those guys.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Joey Logano

4. Erik Jones

5. Kurt Busch

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Austin Dillon

8. Kyle Busch

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Kyle Larson

13. Aric Almirola

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Paul Menard

17. Ryan Newman

18. Jamie McMurray

19. William Byron

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Regan Smith

22. AJ Allmendinger

23. Darrell Wallace Jr.

24. David Ragan

25. Chris Buescher

26. Michael McDowell

27. Matt DiBenedetto

28. Alex Bowman

29. Ty Dillon

30. Corey LaJoie

31. Jeffrey Earnhardt

32. JJ Yeley

33. Landon Cassill

34. BJ McLeod

35. Clint Bowyer

36. Jimmie Johnson

37. Ross Chastain

38. Harrison Rhodes

39. Timmy Hill

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