July 4, 2021 | By Lee Spencer

Quick Study: Chase Elliott collects second road course win of 2021 with Road America victory

PLYMOUTH, Wis.—Once again, Chase Elliott displayed his proficiency not only on road courses but with tracks debuting on the 2021 NASCAR schedule.

On Sunday, Elliott battled from 34th following an unfortunate chain of events in qualifying for his second win of the season in the Jockey 250. Although he didn’t take the lead until the last stage, over the final 17 circuits, he extended his advantage to 5.705-seconds over Christopher Bell for his second road course win of the season and the seventh of his career—the most among active drivers.

“Just really proud of our team for overcoming some adversity early and having to start in the back, having good pit stops,” Elliott said. “Had a really fast NAPA Chevrolet. Just so proud.

“I never felt like I got in a really good rhythm all of yesterday. For whatever reason there, after about halfway through the race, I started finding some of that rhythm, was able to put it together, piece different parts of the track. Finally, I felt like I was able to piece most of it together. Yeah, stayed with it and glad it worked out.”

Elliott solidified his King of the Road status by winning on five different road courses—Road America, Circuit of the Americas, the Charlotte Roval, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International—the most of any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. He’s third in all-time road course wins behind Jeff Gordon (9) and Tony Stewart (8).

“I honestly don’t know,” Elliott said of why he’s become so strong on road courses. “I feel like it’s just good cars and our team as a whole, “Drivers are only as good as what they have to drive. I feel like I have the best stuff and need to make it work.”

Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.

Three laps into the race, the yellow was shown after Daniel Suarez stalled on the track with a transmission issue. Kyle Tilley ended up in a gravel pit two laps before the end of the first stage—and NASCAR elected to remain under caution with William Byron winning the segment.

Austin Cindric took the lead for the Lap 17 restart and led two circuits before he was passed by DiBenedetto. Cindric locked up the brakes six laps later providing Kyle Busch with a hole entering Turn 5 before the No. 33 Ford spun in Turn 6. The Penske crew attempted to work on his car, but to no avail. Cindric was forced to take the car behind the wall after 35 laps.

“It was quite dramatic taking the lead and then immediately losing everything,” said Cindric, who finished 38th. “Not a weekend I am necessarily happy about. To have the opportunity to show up at this race track with extremely well-prepared race cars and have a shot to win both races is really great for someone in my position.

“But I want to make the most of it and I put way too much into it to have it go that bad, especially when you get moved out of the lead and then take it back as clean as possible, and then this is all you’ve got. That is racing. That is my motto for the weekend.”

Busch took the lead from DiBenedetto on Lap 24, then came in for service three laps later. Reddick claimed the lead and the Stage 2 win on Lap 30. After three laps of caution, Kyle Busch led the field to green but was quickly passed by DiBenedetto. Elliott passed the No. 18 Toyota and then DiBenedetto on Lap 38.

The fourth and final caution was triggered by Anthony Alfredo, who had a right rotor disintegrate leaving debris all over the track. The yellow flag afforded the competition the opportunity to pit and obtain enough fuel for the final 18 laps.

Aric Almirola stayed on the track with the lead but was quickly passed by Kyle Busch entering Turn 3. Before Busch could extend his lead, Elliott passed him in Turn 2 and set sail. Bell, who had restarted eighth, battled Kyle Larson for third-place and gained the spot out of Turn 3 on Lap 52.

With five laps remaining, Bowman was challenging Larson for fifth and ran into the rear of the No. 5 in Turn 5. Larson spun but the race continued. He finished16th—his first result outside of the top 15 in the last nine races.

“Yeah, we hate to give up points, but there’s still a lot of racing left before the Playoffs start,” said Larson, who trails Hamlin in the point standings by three. “We’ll just keep trying to do a good job in the Stages. It would be nice to get back and win some Stages, win some more races and pad our bonus points."

Considering that Elliott had a five-second lead at the time of Larson’s spin, it was a heart-stopper for his crew chief Alan Gustafson.

“Alex is doing everything he can do,” Gustafson said. "I don't know exactly, but he was right there at fifth place. He was running really, really well. Did a great job all race. You certainly don't want him—I’m super selfish. You're like, Stop, don't race. You know it's his job, right? What do you do?

“But those are tough circumstances. Hey, man, those guys do a great job. We've got great teammates. Guys that we genuinely like to race with. It happens. Not what any of us wanted to see. It's not what he wanted to see or the 5 or us certainly. Fortunately for us, it didn't impede our progress.”

With four laps to go, Bell passed Kyle Busch for second—his best result since winning at the Daytona Road Course in February.

“I think it was close, closer than anyone else was to the 9,” Bell said of Elliott. “That was good. At the end of the race everyone was telling me that I was matching if not a little better lap times, so never had track position to start up there with him and see what we had against the whole run...that was a lot of fun. The SiriusXM Camry was really good, and I knew that we would have a really good week this weekend.”

But neither Bell nor the rest of the field had anything for the People’s Champ. Elliott celebrated his 13th-career Cup win with a burnout on the front stretch and second one in Turn 5.

"It was super cool. Man, they were fired up," Elliott said of the Elkhart Lake fans. "The amount of peer pressure I felt to do a burnout was, like, wow. I don't know that I've ever had that much peer pressure in my life to do a burnout. I knew it was going to happen. NASCAR was yelling at me to make sure I went around the whole track. I did a burnout in the frontstretch. I was out of tire. I knew they were going to blow out.

"I got down there in the interview, literally that place was packed. All these people are chanting 'burnout' at me. I wasn't going to say no. So I did. Blew the back tires off of it, then ran out of gas, had to have a push. It was just a timely deal...The road to that first win, the lessons learned along the way, one of them is you have to enjoy these moments. They're way too hard to get. You don't know if or when you'll ever get another one. If the fans want a burnout, I'm going to give them a burnout. That's what it's going to be. We'll take the extra time going down the road."