Chase Elliott scores another win at Charlotte Motor Speedway

After being rained out due to Tropical Storm Bertha, the NASCAR Cup Series held the Alsco Uniforms 500 Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The driver’s lineup was based on Sunday’s finish, with the top 20 positions being reversed, meaning the winner Brad Keselowski, who won on Sunday, started 20th. In contrast, William Byron, who finished 20th after Jimmie Johnson was disqualified, started on the pole along with his teammate Alex Bowman.

Before the race got underway, NASCAR announced there would be a competition caution at lap 20. William Byron and Alex Bowman led the field to the green flag to start stage one. Not even a lap into the race, the caution was out for a two-car crash involving Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley. Before the caution came out, Matt DiBenedetto got by William Byron to take the lead. On the restart, DiBenedetto lost the lead to William Byron on lap 12. The competition caution came out at lap 21 as the teams were keeping an eye on the radar as the rain was moving in.

The green flag is out … annnnnd the yellow flag is out. 😬 Trouble finds the #Alsco500 field on Lap 1 at @CLTMotorSpdwy. pic.twitter.com/CW7HEjK6Jw — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 28, 2020

Oh by the way … @mattdracing took the lead away from @WilliamByron on that first lap.@JeffGordonWeb breaks down just how he did it. 🔊⬆️ pic.twitter.com/if61dEX6nE — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 28, 2020

The rain was getting closer as you could see the dark clouds setting in, so some of the lead lap cars began to pit. Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney, and Bubba Wallace decided to stay out while William Byron pitted. There was trouble on pit road when Corey LaJoie hit William Byron as Byron was leaving while LaJoie was coming in for his stop.

Troubles for @WilliamByron on pit road as he makes contact with @CoreyLaJoie! 📺: FS1 | 📲: https://t.co/oWWAut6pxx pic.twitter.com/qdznCHCF6m — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 28, 2020

Logano and McDowell led the field back to the green flag on lap 25. Five laps later, Brad Keselowski had a left flat tire and tried to get down to pit road but caused Matt Kenseth to spin at turn four to bring out the third caution of the race. Ultimately, NASCAR brought the cars down to pit road as lightning was in the area. At first, it looked like the rain was going to miss the racetrack completely. But Mother Nature went into reverse, and the rain began to fall on the track.

The rain delay lasted an hour and fourteen minutes before the drivers made their way back to their cars to resume stage one. When the red flag was lifted, some of the drivers pitted under caution. Joey Logano led the field back to the green flag on lap 35. Logano was in control and pulled away from the field to win stage one.

The green flag is back out … … and they're already three-wide on the backstretch. 😱 Don't miss the action on FS1 or at https://t.co/oWWAut6pxx! pic.twitter.com/LrCBFy98RY — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 29, 2020

All of the lead lap cars pitted, and Logano won the race off pit road to retain the lead. Logano and Ryan Blaney led the field back to the green flag to start stage two. Chaos occurred exiting turn four when Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Erik Jones were four-wide, causing Almirola and Busch to touch. Both drivers saved their cars in what could’ve been a significant wreck, but Busch cut his left rear tire and had damage on the left rear as well. Busch would pit and would go two-laps down.

FOUR-WIDE AT CHARLOTTE! And issues for @KyleBusch as he and @Aric_Almirola make contact! 📺: FS1 | 📲: https://t.co/oWWAut6pxx pic.twitter.com/9WR9vmXmeg — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 29, 2020

While all that was going on, Kevin Harvick passed Joey Logano to take the lead on lap 66. Logano lost another spot to Alex Bowman and was now sitting in third place. The caution would come out again on lap 73 as Quin Houff got into the wall while Brennan Poole tried to avoid him and ended up getting loose and hit Houff.

Most of the lead lap cars pitted, including Kevin Harvick while Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, all stayed out. Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson only took two tires while the rest took four.

Bowman, along with Logano, led the field back to the green flag. Harvick restarted 17th after a four-tire pit stop and was quickly moving up the field. Bowman would go on to win stage two. During the caution, Brad Keselowski, who had damage from earlier in the race, came down to pit road so the crew could continue to fix the damage.

* @KevinHarvick has entered the chat * The two-for-one special is a hot bargain at @CLTMotorSpdwy tonight. pic.twitter.com/YDpsHUVVcI — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 29, 2020

Bowman, along with Logano, led the field back to the green flag to start the final stage with Kevin Harvick in third. It only took Harvick three laps to get both Logano and Bowman to take the lead on lap 126.

New leader: Kevin Harvick! "Wow."- @JeffGordonWeb pic.twitter.com/s2y0rW7SC7 — FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 29, 2020

Bowman was sitting in second place for the time being, but as he was trying to catch Harvick, his car slid and hit the turn four wall hard. Bowman made it back to his pit under the green.

Trouble for @AlexBowman88 as he was running in second! He catches the wall off Turn 4 and heads to pit road to repair the damage. pic.twitter.com/MNaAcZJsQw — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 29, 2020

Timmy Hill would bring out the seventh caution of the race, and Matt Kenseth got the free pass. All of the lead lap cars pitted, and Kevin Harvick won the race off of pit road. Erik Jones was penalized for pitting outside of the box and lost one lap.

Kevin Harvick led the field back to the green flag with Denny Hamlin on the outside with Ryan Blaney third and Kurt Busch fourth. Five laps into the restart, Chase Elliott made his way into second place getting by Ryan Blaney and was beginning to real in Kevin Harvick. By lap 179, Elliott had Harvick in his sights and would use a lapped car to get by Harvick for the lead.

NEW LEADER: @chaseelliott goes around @KevinHarvick for the top spot as we approach 20 to go at @CLTMotorSpdwy! 📺: FS1 | 📲: https://t.co/oWWAut6pxx pic.twitter.com/1p1ogPVqxQ — NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 29, 2020

Kevin Harvick was losing steam, and his car couldn’t catch Elliott as Blaney and Hamlin also passed him, and he had now drifted back to fourth place.

Chase Elliott had a close call on lap 192 when his car got loose in between turns three and four but managed to hold on to the car and remained in the lead. In the meantime, Harvick continued to lose spots in the closing laps of the race.

From there, Elliott was cruising and would go on to win the Alsco Uniforms 500. The action was behind him as Denny Hamlin got by Ryan Blaney on the last lap to take second place while Blaney finished third. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came in fourth, Kurt Busch in fifth, Joey Logano sixth, Brad Keselowski seventh, Austin Dillon eighth, Martin Truex Jr. ninth, and Kevin Harvick tenth. There was a total of seven cautions and fourteen lead changes.

Redemption! Retweet to congratulate @ChaseElliott on his WIN at Charlotte. pic.twitter.com/Tm5kKKNVU5 — FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 29, 2020

For Elliott, this is his second win at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week after winning the NASCAR Ganders RV & Outdoors Truck Series race Tuesday night. The Cup Series will now head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 on Sunday at 3:30 pm on FS1.

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