NASCAR descended upon Daytona to make new left and right turns on Sunday, but the top result was all-too-familiar.
Daytona International Speedway took on a new look on Sunday afternoon, as the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series ran around its 3.6-mile road course for the first time. The final result, however, didn’t require a makeover.
Chase Elliott of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, won his third consecutive NASCAR road course event, leading 34 of 65 laps of the Go Bowling 235 on a sweltering, humid late afternoon at Daytona. The race was moved from its original locale at Watkins Glen International in New York State’s Schuyler County due to quarantine requirements.
Elliott’s win is his second for the 2020 season and his fourth on a road course for his career. He has won the last two races at Watkins Glen and also took home last year’s race at the Charlotte Roval in the fall.
“I’ve just had really good cars I think more than anything,” Elliott said of his road course success in a postrace Zoom call. “I’m not sure I did anything very special today but had a really fast NAPA Camaro, which makes everybody’s job a little easier from my end driving it, from (crew chief Alan Gustafson’s) end calling the race, and then from his end on adjusting, too.  Really fortunate from that standpoint.”
Elliott started the race in seventh based on NASCAR’s new starting lineup formula, which factors in speed and performance from the prior race and also position in the standings. The No. 9 team is locked into the upcoming NASCAR playoffs thanks to their prior win at Charlotte in May.Â
He would take the lead for the first time when several leaders pitted, giving him the win in the first of two 15-lap stages. Elliott got the lead back after Denny Hamlin took the second. It was also Elliott leading when the race paused for a lightning delay that lasted just over 31 minutes.
“I think that lightning delay was pretty crucial for a lot of guys to get a breather,” Elliott said. “I was hot for sure, I think everyone was. I mean, it was a hot day. Mid-afternoon in Daytona is not cool and probably never will be.”
When the race resumed on lap 38 of 65, Elliott built an eight-second lead over Kurt Busch before making his final stop with 17 to go. He got around Hamlin and again began to build an insurmountable lead after those in front of him pitted, but it was one that was erased when Kyle Busch’s wreck brought out the only caution flag for an on-track incident. Late cautions previously cost Elliott wins at another Charlotte race as well as Bristol.
This time, though, Elliott wasn’t letting history out of his sights.
Elliott held one last challenge over the final four laps to earn the first Cup win on the Daytona road course. It wrapped up a weekend that saw each of NASCAR’s national series run at the track, with Austin Cindric and Sheldon Creed respectively winning at the Xfinity and Truck Series levels.
“Obviously Watkins Glen has been good to us, but I was just really happy that we replaced a road course with a road course and didn’t just pile something else on the schedule to check a box,” Elliott said of the new course. “I think there was a lot of effort into getting this road course done and completed in time, so appreciate Daytona and everybody that works in the facilities here to be able to turn it that fast, and did a really nice job with it.”
Hamlin finished in the runner-up spot in front of Martin Truex Jr. The latter recovered from a speeding penalty on pit road to finish with a bronze medal for his fifth consecutive third-place finish. Elliott’s teammate Jimmie Johnson finished fourth while Chris Buescher used a late surge on the last restart to come home fifth.
Three races remain in the Cup Series’ regular season, with two of those races on the docket next weekend. This season’s final doubleheader will take place at Dover International Speedway, with Delaware hosting a pair of 311-mile races, both labeled the Drydene 311. The first will be run on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
Race Notes
- It was a rough day for the defending Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who left the track at lap 48 after losing a brake rotor. At the time of his crash, Busch was six laps down. He wound up finishing 37th. Busch currently is up 100 points up on Johnson, the first driver outside of the playoff picture.
- Austin Dillon, locked into the playoffs thanks to his win at Texas earlier this summer, missed the race due to a self-reported positive test for COVID-19. He was replaced in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet by part-time Xfinity Series Kaz Grala. The 21-year-old wound up leading three laps and finished seventh in his Cup Series debut.
- JJ Yeley began the race in the No. 27 Rick Ware Racing Ford but was replaced by Bayley Currey due to heat exhaustion. Currey brought the car home 34th.
- With a 10th-place finish, Michael McDowell set a new career-best in top ten postings with his third of the year.
For full results, click here
For full standings, click here
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags