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Round number 9 of 36 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is officially in the books! Today, on the 14th of April in 2024, the best in the world, the NASCAR Cup Series, took to Texas Motor Speedway. So, what all went down in the Lonestar state?
Well, to start things off, all eyes were on the driver of the number 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson. Larson scored his third pole in a row yesterday during qualifying. Clearly, he had a fast car and appeared to be a favorite early on. He went on to win the opening stage and collect a handful of stage points. A mistake on pit road, however, would result in the #5 being put 2-laps down. He never did recover.
It was Ross Chastain who was standing tall in the second stage as he went on to collect 10 stage points and 1 playoff point. The No. 1 car was fast all day but contact on the final restart of the race with William Byron sent him into the wall. He was ultimately credited with a 32nd-place finish.
Also showing speed throughout this race were the two 23XI cars of Bubba Wallace and Tytler Reddick. Bubba found himself shuffled back and out of contention late in the race. But Reddick was still in the mix inside the top-5 until he overdrove the corner and got into the wall. No caution was thrown for the incident and the driver of the 45 was able to limp it around to a 4th-place finish.
However, when the chips were all down and the laps were dwindling, it was NASCAR’s most popular driver who captured the flag, ending a 46-race winless streak. This also marks Chase Elliott’s first top-5 in the NextGen era on a mile-and-a-half track. The win came after a thrilling finish with several restarts and overtime attempts. In one attempt, Chase Elliott, who took the lead, drifted up the track in front of Denny Hamling, taking air off his car. Hamlin then got loose in turn 4 and slammed into the outside wall. But regardless of the number of attempts, Elliott was able to hold off Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, and William Byron to win in the Lonestar state!
Congratulations to Chase Elliott and the whole number 9 Hendrick Motorsports crew.
Chase Elliott is the undisputed Most Popular Driver in NASCAR. This win is huge for him and his fans and marks his first win since the 2022 fall Talladega race. This is Chase Elliott’s 19th career victory and it’s extremely special following a disappointing and winless 2023 season. With this win, Chase locks himself into the 2024 Playoffs and he scores 5 valuable playoff points. We here at the Daily Downforce would like to once again extend our congratulations to the driver of Engine Number 9.
Finally, Chase Elliott can celebrate.
Here is Chase Elliott performing the Polish Victory Lap made famous by Allan Kulwicki.
The early part of the race was the Kyle Larson show. The polesitter led every lap of the opening stage en route to a stage win. His luck then took a turn for the worse, however.
Following pit stops, the entire right-rear tire came off Larson’s car, resulting in a two-lap penalty. Suspensions for crew members are pending. This along with a couple of late-race spins hindered the No. 5’s finish position. He ended up in the 20th position.
Ross Chastain had a fast car all race and was in contention in the end. On the final restart, he battled hard on the outside of eventual winner Chase Elliott but never could overtake him. On the final lap on the backstretch, Chastain was turned by William Byron. After being checked and released from the infield care center, he declined to comment.
After a few promising performances, it would appear that Josh Berry is back on the struggle bus. Something was missing in that number 4 camp all day. Two spins in the treacherous corners of Texas Motor Speedway ultimately ended his day.
Something Jimmie Johnson can say about this race is that he actually fought to see the checkers. What he cannot say is that the race was without incident. Johnson hit the wall in qualifying and was forced to start the race in the rear. He went for another spin early in this race. He didn’t get much damage but he still struggled all day. He ended up finishing in 26th.
This was the turning point of the race. As the laps wound down, it appeared that Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski had the two strongest cars. But a perfectly timed caution secured Chase Elliott the lead. Denny Hamlin tried to recapture it but, after being blocked by Elliott, spun around and hit the wall. He finished the race in 30th.
Ray just can’t fathom why so many people question Chase Elliott’s popularity.
Favorite Vegetable tweeted this awesome photo of Bill Elliott congratulating another Hooter’s driver in Alan Kulwicki. The Polish Victory Lap celebration performed by Chase was extremely fitting.
Laura’s just glad Denny Hamling didn’t win. You and so many others!
Hats off to Chase and the No. 9 crew.
Mamba Smith is extremely happy for Chase Elliott and his fandom. You can watch his reaction below.
Ben The NASCAR Guy also tweets his congratulations.
How about that one, race fans!? That was exciting and thrilling right until the very end. It will most definitely be considered the most popular win of the season! What did you think of the race, Daily Downforce readers? Are you happy with Chase winning? Do you wish it was someone else? How’d your favorite driver do? Let us know on all our social media platforms!
That does it for us in Texas. Keep tuned to DailyDownforce.com for all the breaking news and stories of the week. We can’t wait for Talladega! It’ll be here before we know it!
