KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Chase Elliott somehow stole Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway, where he drove from eighth to the checkered flag during a two-lap overtime sprint to earn a spot in the third round of NASCAR's playoffs.
It was a wild ending to a race that probably should have been won by Denny Hamlin, who dominated and led 159 laps until a slew of late issues denied him his chance at career win No. 60 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The race had a slew of
late cautions — Hamlin dropped from the lead to seventh on a slow pit stop — that put Bubba Wallace in position to win the race. A red-flag stoppage for Zane Smith flipping his car set up the final overtime restart and Wallace was holding tight in a door-to-door battle with Christopher Bell for the victory.
Then Hamlin came from nowhere to catch Wallace, who drives for the team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan, and Wallace scraped the wall as he tried to hold off his boss. That's when Elliott suddenly entered the frame and smashed Hamlin in the door to get past him for his second win of the season.
Elliott joins Ryan Blaney as the two drivers locked into the third round of the playoffs. The field will be cut from 12 drivers to eight after next week's race in Concord, North Carolina.
Hamlin finished second, his JGR teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe were third and fourth and Wallace wound up fifth. Elliott, in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, was the only non-Toyota driver in the top five.
Tyler Reddick raced Sunday and finished seventh, hours after his wife disclosed on social media their newborn son has been ailing for several months.
Alexa Reddick posted she was in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at a North Carolina hospital with Rookie, the couple's second son who was born in May, working on improving his “heart function.” She wrote she had been seeking medical care for Rookie for some time without getting any concrete answers for what appeared to be "signs of heart failure that were being missed.
“Always trust your mom gut,” she added.
Reddick has not discussed the health battles his son has been facing.
A playoff elimination race at the hybrid oval/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Kyle Larson won a year ago. The playoff field will be cut from 12 drivers to eight following next Sunday's race.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
