May 2, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Chase Elliott marches to Victory Lane at Dover Motor Speedway

The delayed DuraMAX Drydene 400 was worth the wait for Chase Elliott on Monday.

With 53 laps remaining at Dover Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet snatched the lead from Ross Chastain and held the point to the checkered flag for his 14th career Cup victory.

Elliott scored his first win of the season and his second at Dover by a 2.577-second advantage over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., at the finish line.

“Had some good circumstances finally,” Elliott said. “Really appreciate Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and our entire team No. 9 Chevrolet team for just sticking with it. We've had some tough races over the last, I don't know, four, five months. Just great to get NAPA back to Victory Lane; great to get Hendrick Motorsports back to Victory Lane."

Elliott's last win came 26 races ago at Elkhart Lake, Wisc. His last victory on an oval was the championship contest at Phoenix Raceway in the 2020 season finale. Although he was running second at the time of the rain delay on Sunday, Elliott believes the time gave the No. 9 team the opportunity to regroup.

"For us personally as a team, we were able to kind of think about our struggles yesterday," Elliott said. "I actually feel like it might have helped us a little bit. Did it change the results? I don't know. I think we probably would have ended up probably headed in the same direction with our car. But it did give us some more time to think about it. Other than that, it's not really a ton different. You just kind of go to bed, Groundhog Day, just try again.

"Had less people here today which was a bummer. That was a great crowd we had yesterday. Biggest crowd I have seen here personally since I've been racing, which I thought was really cool. Proud to see that."

Chastain, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.

Martin Truex Jr. was poised for a top-five finish before making contact with Chastain on the white-flag lap. He wheeled the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to 12th as the race ended under caution. Truex exchanged words with Chastain after the race but the Trackhouse Racing driver refused to comment on the discussion other than he was fighting for third.

“I was racing the champions and got beat,” Chastain said. His sixth-podium result in the first 11 races elevated Chastain to sixth in the point standings. 

Truex wasn't the only JGR driver to encounter ill fortune throughout the race which picked up after rain delayed the contest after 78 laps were completed on Sunday. Denny Hamlin won the first stage decidedly on Lap 120 but lost a left-front wheel off of the No. 11 Toyota three laps later coming off of pit road when the team failed to attach the lug nut to the wheel. While Hamlin was able to recover initially, 120 laps later, Cody Ware bounced off of the Turn 4 wall indirectly into the No. 11 Fed Ex Camry. Hamlin finished 21st, one lap down.

Bell was the next JGR racer to lose the wheel of misfortune. After the race restarted on Lap129, he was quickly off the pace and experiencing an issue with a loose wheel. Bell dropped to 32nd but rallied for his second top-five finish of the season.

Kyle Busch led a race-high 103 laps. Busch appeared en route to his third-birthday win before an ill-timed caution on Lap 325—just as he and Bowman, who were running first and second before pitting—mired them in the field.

That opened the door for Chastain and Elliott. Both drivers pitted under the 11th caution with Chastain out front of the Lap 331 restart. The race slowed again four laps later after Corey LaJoie and Daniel Suarez made contact in Turn—with the No. 99 Chevy ending upon the spin cycle.

Elliott wrestled the lead from Chastain just as Tyler Reddick spun on the backstretch. That enabled Elliott to choose the preferred lane for the Lap 348 restart. Stenhouse quickly grabbed second, but Elliott extended his lead over the final 50 circuits.

“Just so proud,” Elliott added. “This one means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort. But thanks to all the fans for coming out. You're always awesome. Hope to see this big crowd here next year. Just a huge thanks to everybody involved. It's been a fun day and we're certainly going to enjoy.

“Like I told them after the race —those guys, they've been deserving of one for a while. Glad we could get across the line first. We'll enjoy it for a few days and go to work next week.”

For Stenhouse, who is in a contract year, his first top-five finish of the season is a welcomed result.

“Man, it's been a rough start to the season.,” Stenhouse said. “Our short track program has been off. All our other good races that we've had good runs going, something has always happened. Really good to put this all together. We had a brand-new partner, The Frozen Farmer, they're from 40 minutes down the road. The whole family is here. Really great day for us.

“I felt like we had a car capable of winning. Obviously getting off pit road at different times. My pit crew did a great job keeping us up front all day. This feels good. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum on. The big tracks, the tracks we've got coming forward, are really good tracks for us.”

Elliott entered the weekend as the points leader and extended his advantage to 50-points over Ryan Blaney. Blaney was involved in a wreck on Lap 87. Although the team used strategy to pick up the Stage 2 win, the Team Penske driver never factored into the race. He finished 26th.