FORT WORTH, Texas - Chase Elliott's 42-race winless drought finally ended at Texas Motor Speedway as the No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet survived double overtime to win the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 in the Lone Star State.
Elliott returned to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time since the Talladega fall race in 2022. The 2020 Cup Series champion also ended another drought, bringing his longtime sponsor Hooters to Victory Lane for the first time since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
The native of Dawsonville, Georgia honored the 1992 premier series champion with the "Polish Victory Lap" after the Texas Cup race, saying post-race that it has always been a dream of his to honor Kulwicki.
"Oh, man, couldn't feel any better," Elliott said. "First off, thanks to everybody that came out today, you guys are unbelievable. Couldn't be more proud of our team. Thanks to our partners at NAPA, Chevrolet. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.
"Had a big week last week. Boss (Rick Hendrick), thank you for sticking with me. Really, really proud of this. Appreciate all the folks back home that have stuck with me and helped us get back on track."
While Elliott snapped his winless streak, Brad Keselowski is still trying to end his own career-long winless streak (107 races) but ended up finishing second at Texas. The No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford was arguably the strongest car during the final stretch of the race, earning his sixth straight top 10 at 1.5-mile Texas intermediate track.
"We didn’t have a ton of speed," Keselowski said. "Honestly, I am more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don't have the speed to go with it. We are doing all we can do to overcome that. The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I am good enough to win but don't have the speed enough to do it. The owner in me is mad as hell because it is my fault for not making the cars faster.
"I am still proud of the team that we have with the pit stops and strategy and execution to put ourselves in position to get a finish we probably didn’t deserve but earned with some never-give-up spirit," he added. "It was a good job of executing with what we had. It is frustrating. You can still get good finishes by running good smart days, executing on pit road, and having great strategy and I am proud of our team for doing that today."
Results from the 2024 AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 are listed below:
Other Race Facts
The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 had 16 cautions, which tied the most ever at Texas Motor Speedway (2022), and now holds the NASCAR record for most cautions during a 400-mile race. 72 of 276 laps (26%) were run under caution.
There were four instances where the second-place driver was involved in an accident. Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain all got loose and spun from second.
Austin Dillon's eighth-place finish was his first top eight since Bristol Dirt 38 races ago.
Carson Hocevar earned his first career top-10 finish in the Cup Series.
Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson finished on the lead lap for the first time in the Next Gen car. The No. 84 AdventHealth Toyota finished 29th.
Chevrolet has swept all three NASCAR races four times during the 2024 season.
GRID Ranking
The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world's premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.
The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
DRIVER | OLD RATING | PREVIOUS RANKING | MOST RECENT FINISH | NEW RATING | NEW RANKING |
William Byron | 15.17 | 8th | 3rd | 15.95 | 6th |
Kyle Larson | 12.58 | 13th | 21st | 11.18 | 20th |
Christopher Bell | 12.40 | 15th | 17th | 11.02 | 22nd |
Denny Hamlin | 9.99 | 23rd | 30th | 8.88 | T-26th |
Chase Elliott | N/A | N/A | 1st | 8.88 | T-26th |
Week 2 of the GRID Ranking:
2023 NASCAR GRID Rating Champion William Byron remains on top with a third-place finish at Texas. Byron is currently sixth overall in the GRID Ranking at the end of Week 2. The top four in the NASCAR Rating remained the same, but Chase Elliott's victory allowed him to move past Ryan Blaney.
The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 21. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
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