Chase Elliott survives wild overtime to win Kansas playoff race
- CEM
- Sep 28, 2025
- 2 min read
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service //
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In the last few feet of race track in the second overtime Sunday afternoon, Chase Elliott came from oblivion to steal the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET and earn a berth in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
As his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sped wide open through the final corner on Lap 273 at Kansas Speedway, Elliott’s car bounced off the side of Denny Hamlin’s Toyota on the way to the finish line.
RELATED: Official results | At-track photos
Elliott, who restarted eighth for the final two-lap shootout, got to the stripe 0.069 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who led 159 laps and drove the final stretch of the second Round of 12 playoff race without benefit of power steering.
“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who picked up his second win of the season, his second at Kansas and the 21st of his career. “Had a great push through (Turns) 1 and 2. That kind of all started with the 6 (Brad Keselowski). Big run off of 2. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it …
“I wasn’t going to lift, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point. We were both wide open corner exit. Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed.”
Hamlin was spent after man-handling his car around the 1.5-mile track in the closing laps of the race.
“Just super disappointing,” said Hamlin, who swept the first and second stages. “I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (career victories) for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast.
“Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner.”
The good news for Hamlin is that he increased his margin over the current playoff cut line to 48 points entering next Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Barring disaster, Hamlin is all but assured of advancing to the Round of 8.
Christopher Bell finished third, followed by pole winner Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace, who led the field to green for the final overtime restart but faded to fifth after battling side-by-side with Hamlin on the final lap.
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especially in a playoff environment where every lap carries enormous pressure and one small mistake can end an entire championship unblur this image run. This win felt like a combination of patience, smart race management, and pure determination.
What an incredible race and an even more impressive performance under pressure. Chase Elliott really showed why he’s considered remover um objeto da foto one of the toughest and most composed drivers in NASCAR. Surviving multiple overtime restarts at Kansas is no small feat,
That kind of last-corner, full-commitment finish is wild—I've had similar moments in sim racing where one tiny gap decides everything at the line. How do drivers even manage keeping control when they’re side-by-side at full throttle like that after such a long race? It actually reminds me a bit of PolyTrack , a racing game that captures that chaotic, high-pressure final-lap energy in a really fun way.
Restarting deep in the field during aesthetic pictures overtime and still managing to fight through the pack is no small achievement—it takes skill, timing, and a bit of racing instinct.