Chase Elliott had a strong race at Martinsville on Sunday. Towards the end, there was a big crash, and this led to an extra round of racing, called overtime. Elliott found himself next to his teammate William Byron at the front of the pack.
When the race started again, Elliott tried to pass Byron by giving him a push from behind, but Byron stayed calm and kept his lead. He fought off another teammate, Kyle Larson, to clinch his third win of the season.
Elliott finished third, his best result so far this year, and it was part of a great day for Hendrick Motorsports, with their drivers taking the top three spots.
This win was special for Hendrick Motorsports because it marked 40 years since their first Cup win by Geoffrey Bodine at Martinsville. Nearly 1,500 Hendrick employees and their families were there to celebrate this milestone.
After the race, Elliott said, “Second or third, what does it matter? Yeah, obviously No. 1 congrats to William and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports…I wish we could have got it done, selfishly like anybody would.”
This season has been a bit slow for Elliott, especially after missing some races last season and failing to make it to the playoffs for the first time in his career. He hasn’t won a race in 42 tries, with his last victory coming in Talladega in 2022.
However, things have been looking up lately. He finished fifth at Richmond last weekend and led for 64 laps, his highest this season, on his way to the third-place finish at Martinsville.
“It was fun to kind of get to that last restart and it actually mattered. Enjoyed that aspect. Certainly hungry for more,” Elliott said. “All that stuff has been going in a positive direction, in my opinion. I think if we can just keep producing that, we’ll get our turn one day.”
