May 23, 2021 | By Lee Spencer

Chase Elliott solidifies King of the Road status with weather-shortened win at COTA

NASCAR made its best attempt to ‘Keep Austin Weird’ in its debut at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday.

After a downpour soaked the 3.41-mile track five laps into the Echo Park Automotive Texas Grand Prix, the next 22 circuits became a race of survival as drivers struggled to see out of their windshields.

Following two stoppages for rain, visibility and standing water, the odds-on favorite—Chase Elliott—continued to reinforce his reputation as NASCAR’s new king of the road with his sixth win in 11 races on road courses.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Elliott said. “I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool. And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end.”

Elliott’s first win of 2021 locks all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers into the Playoffs. The victory also moved Rick Hendrick’s organization into a tie with Petty Enterprises for the most Cup wins with 268 and 800 wins for Chevrolet.

“Richard Petty and that organization have been the backbone of the sport,” Hendrick said. “Richard has done so much. It's quite an honor to even be in the same series with him.

“Never thought we'd get here. But real proud of the guys. They worked really hard. That's been something we've had in our sights. Really happy for Chevrolet with 800 wins. It's just been a great day. It's been a great ride. The season has been so good to us.”

Kyle Larson finished second followed by Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, and Kyle Busch. Despite his third-consecutive second-place finish and fourth of the season, Larson supported NASCAR’s decision to call the race.

“It was getting pretty bad,” said Larson, who has 26 second-place results in 237 races. “Like three laps in a row I was starting to hydroplane down the backstretch. Selfishly, I'd like to have kept going just knowing that he was going to have to pit and I would have been handed the lead and the win. But they made the right call. It was getting bad.”

Tyler Reddick won his first career Cup pole on Sunday morning—the first pole on a road course for Richard Childress Racing since Dale Earnhardt set the fast time at Watkins Glen in 1996.

While the drivers were on the warm-up laps, rain started to fall and NASCAR gave competitors the option to change tires. Reddick gave up the lead to Austin Cindric after the field took the green flag. As drivers dropped off to pit road for wet tires, Cindric extended his lead to nine-seconds before he pitted on Lap 5 and turned the lead over to Martin Truex Jr.

Daniel Suarez stalled to trigger the first caution on Lap 9. McDowell held the point temporarily when the race returned to green on Lap 10 but Logano quickly passed the No. 34 Ford. Logano led a race-high 14 laps as mayhem ensued behind him. Denny Hamlin spun off the course on the first lap. Keselowski followed two laps later.

With one lap remaining in Stage 1, Byron was forced to pit from the top 10 after his right rear tire deflated following contact with Matt DiBenedetto. Logano held serve for the stage win followed by McDowell and Kurt Busch. Byron, who recovered from 38th to finish 11th, watched his streak of 11 top 10s come to an end.

Before NASCAR called the third caution, Ryan Newman spun in Turn 4 on Lap 20. As the leaders raced through Turn 12, Christopher Bell made contact with Ryan Blaney and ended up in the fence on the backstretch. Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., also received damage. Bubba Wallace jacked-up Kevin Harvick’s car after the driver slowed to avoid the wreck.

Harvick told the crew over the radio, “They need to load everybody up, that's the most unsafe thing I've ever done in a car.”

Harvick was not the only champion to question the advisability of racing in the rain. Once the race returned to green on Lap 25, Truex tagged McDowell, who had slowed on the backstretch. As Truex lifted, Cole Custer came barreling down the long straight behind and punted the back of the No. 19 Toyota--which ultimately landed on his hood as the No. 41 Ford erupted into flames.

“I couldn’t see anything,” Truex said. “Going down the backstretch just trying to stay on the road and next thing I know, I saw a taillight and it was on my hood in a split second. You just can’t see anything out there. It’s not a good feeling. I’m trying to stay in the gas and keep going. I want to get out of that area and through the braking zone because I knew I was going to get hit again and the next thing I knew, I got hit so hard that I was 10-feet in the air. Just wild.”

NASCAR red-flagged the event and called for the air titans to clear water off the track. After a 21-minute delay, the sanctioning body elected to adopt single-file restarts on Lap 28. Ryan Preece took the lead but Kyle Busch quickly took the lead as Elliott moved up to third—then second on Lap 31. Busch won the stage with Elliott, Reddick, and Cindric in tow. The top four remained intact for the start of Stage 3.

Larson, who restarted fifth, was told by his crew chief Cliff Daniels the No. 5 Chevy could go the distance on fuel with one additional stop. Daniels added both Busch and Elliott would need to pit unless there were cautions.

Reddick had battled among the top five for most of the third stage until Lap 39. He spun coming into Turn 20 and dropped from fifth to 24th. Two laps later Busch and Elliott pitted from first and fourth, respectively, for fuel. Larson, who was running second, assumed the lead.

Elliott cycled up to second, then took the lead on Lap 49 after Larson and Bowman came in for fuel. Crew chief Alan Gustafson told Elliott to extend his lead since they were short on fuel. By Lap 50, Elliott held a nine-second advantage over Larson.

“I just kept pushing myself harder and harder,” Elliott said. “Some areas on the track though were getting, actually, really treacherous, I felt like. The back straightaway was puddling up and starting to hydroplane and do some weird stuff. My only option was to just kind of send it through those spots and just hope for the best.”

Following multiple reports from drivers complaining of no visibility and hydroplaning—compounded by Kurt Busch sailing off into the gravel pit on Lap 53—NASCAR called the sixth and final caution one lap later. Drivers parked their cars on pit road and waited for further directions. The wait wasn’t long. About 15 minutes later, Elliott was declared the winner 14 laps short of the advertised distance.

“I’m just really proud of our team,” said Elliott, who is now tied with Rusty Wallace for third-most road course wins. “This is two-in-a-row for Hendrick Motorsports and the 800th win for Chevrolet. I couldn’t be more proud of Chevy and it’s the 268th win for Hendrick Motorsports.

“Thanks to all the fans for hanging in there today. I’m just proud of our team. To come here and fight, it’s not the ideal way to win, but we’ll definitely take it and move on down the road.”