Elliott Wins at Kansas to Close Out Round of 12

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon for his third victory of the season.

Elliott inherited the lead after Kevin Harvick was hit with a late pit penalty, and Elliott had to hold off Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson in the closing laps. 

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Elliott said his car was good enough that he could have raced Harvick for the victory if he hadn’t been penalized.

“Obviously got lucky with Kevin having his penalty,” Elliott said.  “I thought we were really equally matched.  Wish we could have raced him straight up.”

After winning his second race in this round of the Playoffs, Elliott said he believes his team is set up to go to Homestead and fight for a championship.

“Great round for us for sure,” Elliott said.  “We just can’t get complacent.  We’ve got a lot of work to do and a long way to go.  This is a huge time of year.”

Busch chased Elliott down in the closing laps, but Busch couldn’t get to Elliott’s bumper while the pair worked their way through lapped traffic.  Busch said Elliott ran a smart race as the race came to a close.

“He ran a really good line…and kept pace,” Busch said.  “Proud of the effort.”

Coming into the weekend, Larson needed a victory to move on to the next round of the Playoffs.  After having a fast car, Larson couldn’t get to the lead and was eliminated. 

Larson said it would have been hard to beat Elliott and Busch.

“Hate that I allowed Kyle to get by me at the beginning of that cycle,” Larson said.  “Wish I could have done something there…hard to beat those guys.”

As the Round of 12 came to a close, Larson, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman were eliminated from Playoff contention.

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Kyle Busch

3. Kyle Larson

4. Erik Jones

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Joey Logano

9. Alex Bowman

10. Aric Almirola

11. Austin Dillon

12. Kevin Harvick

13. Clint Bowyer

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Ryan Newman

16. Chris Buescher

17. Jamie McMurray

18. Kurt Busch

19. David Ragan

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Jimmie Johnson

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Daniel Suarez

25. Ty Dillon

26. Darrell Wallace Jr.

27. Michael McDowell

28. Regan Smith

29. Landon Cassill

30. Trevor Bayne

31. JJ Yeley

32. Paul Menard

33. BJ McLoed

34. Corey LaJoie

35. Kyle Weatherman

36. Reed Sorenson

37. Jeffrey Earnhardt

38. William Byron

39. Ross Chastain

40. Timmy Hill

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