NASCAR Cup Series

Racing fortune in NASCAR’s top level came full circle for Chase Elliott Sunday at Dover International Speedway. A year after enduring perhaps his toughest defeat, the 22-year-old fan favorite stayed on the track while his rivals pitted and survived a green-white-checkered restart with old tires to secure an unlikely victory in the “Gander Outdoors 400” Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff race.

Never give up - Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 overcame two pit road penalties and put themselves in position to capitalize when it counted most to earn their second victory of the 2018 season in the Gander Outdoors 400, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race at Dover International Speedway. The win marks the second MENCS conquest of Elliott’s young Cup Series career and the third victory for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The triumph, after 400 grueling laps around the ‘Monster Mile’, moves Elliott and the No. 9 Camaro ZL1 team on to the next Round of this year’s Playoffs and keeps him in contention to compete for the season-ending championship.

Austin Dillon Capitalizes on Seventh-Place Finish After Hard-Fought Day in No. 3 AAA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 "I'm proud of the effort my team showed today at Dover International Speedway. We fought hard all day long for each position we could get with the No. 3 AAA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. I fired off a little loose from the 14th spot, but the car got much tighter throughout the day."

Camry driver Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Playoffs race at Dover International Speedway after placing second.

Chase Elliott wins the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway after a thrilling final 10 laps to advance to third round of playoffs. "Just perseverance and good adjustments throughout the day. It was just a great effort. I appreciate everybody and all my partners, NAPA, Valvoline, Hooters, SunEnergy1, Chevrolet, Mountain Dew, and Kelley Blue Book. It’s been an up-and-down year, I feel like. To have this race slip away last year makes the day that much more sweet." Elliott said.

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Haas VF1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion – “We broke and I hit the wall. I’m just really disappointed. I’m frustrated with our day, obviously, we had a very fast race car. I got tore up passing a lapper and then all of a sudden we had a loose wheel, I think it was a loose wheel, and then we went back out and broke something in the front end and it was two different things. When we pitted it was something in the rear, obviously, the right-rear, the left-rear was loose, it was all out of control, and then all of a sudden we went back out it was fine, so I took back off and then I think something in the left-front broke, it just went straight – whether I ran over something, I don’t know. I’m just sick for Aric. He had that race won. It was his win and unfortunately his teammate had trouble and took him out of it.”

Kevin Harvick wore his signature shades and sarcastic smile, on pit road after the race. He was disappointed that a dominant victory slipped away, and a good points day didn’t make it better.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – RACE WINNER - YOU ARE SHAKING YOUR HEAD ALMOST IN DISBELIEF. YOU TOLD YOUR GUYS, THANKS FOR NOT GIVING UP ALL DAY LONG. HOW MUCH OF THIS WIN IS ABOUT PERSEVERANCE? “Oh, a lot! We had a (speeding) penalty there, early, and fell behind. Luckily, I had a good enough car and a good strategy to get back."

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Quickest in Saturday’s Happy Hour Practice Session - IT WOULD SEEM THE CAR IS THE BEST OUT THERE DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT? “I think looking at actual lap tracker the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) is better than we are, but I feel like our Credit One Bank Chevy is really good. I think we are a close second to him. He is able to run the bottom pretty well. It seems like I’ve got to kind of move around a little bit more, but so far, happy with it."

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How much better is the pole than where you think you’d qualify? “Probably six or eight spots, I believe. It definitely bodes well for us and our Interstate Batteries Camry. I thought we had a decent car in practice. The way it felt, it felt good. It didn’t show the speeds on the speed charts. As the practice went on and guys were making their second and thirds of runs, they were coming back to us in lap times. Our car was really consistent over the runs and we were running the same lap times. Other guys started really fast and they were coming to us a little bit. Hard to tell. Certainly better for us to not have to go out there and bust a fast lap. Speeds were way high here this morning. With the cooler temperatures, it seemed like it was going to be way fast. Excited to have the number one spot going into Sunday. Great opportunity to start the Round of 12 and get rocking.”