(Motorsport-Total.com) – Chase Elliott (Hendrick-Chevrolet) won the DuraMax Drydene 400 at Dover that started on Sunday and finished on Monday. The eleventh race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season lasted two days due to the weather.
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First win of the season for Chase Elliott (Hendrick-Chevrolet)
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For much of the final segment of the race, Monday, his 37th birthday, Kyle Busch (Gibbs-Toyota) had the best chance of winning. However, an unfortunate yellow phase thwarted his plans for a third birthday win after 2009 (Richmond) and 2021 (Kansas City). (Fotos: NASCAR in Dover)
It is Chase Elliott’s first win of the season. After eleven races in the first season with the next-gen car, all four Hendrick drivers have now clinched at least one win. Second place went to Ricky Stenhouse (JTG-Chevrolet), which is the best result for both him and the team in years. (Result: NASCAR at Dover)
Stenhouse last won in July 2017 in Daytona, back then for Jack Roush’s team. JTG Daugherty Racing’s last (and only) triumph was in August 2014 at Watkins Glen, with AJ Allmendinger at the wheel.
After the rain on Sunday, the race continued on Monday under a cloudy sky but on a dry track. First up was Kyle Larson (Hendrick-Chevrolet), having been the leader at the time of Sunday’s red flag. But at the second restart of the second day of racing, Larson lost the lead to Hendrick’s teammate Chase Elliott.
Stage 1 win and penalty for Denny Hamlin
After a few laps, Elliott lost the lead as well. Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota) took over as the first of those to have fresh tires fitted under yellow just before the red flag on Sunday. After 120 laps (78 of them on Sunday), Hamlin took the Stage 1 win ahead of Elliott and Christopher Bell (Gibbs-Toyota).
At the pit stop in the stage-caution, Hamlin was dispatched the fastest – but as it turned out, too fast. At the end of the pit lane, the left front wheel became independent because it had not been fixed. The central wheel nut had fallen out of the impact wrench.
While Hamlin paid with a move back to the end of the lead lap, crew chief Chris Gabehart will be suspended for the next four races up to and including the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
Stage 2 win for Ryan Blaney on old tires
Ross Chastain (Trackhouse-Chevrolet) inherited the lead in the race but the racing action kept getting yellowed out. Reasons were a spin by Kyle Larson, a spin by Kurt Busch (23XI-Toyota) after contact with AJ Allmendinger (Kaulig-Chevrolet), a wall contact by Joey Logano (Penske-Ford) and finally a crash with Denny Hamlin and Cody Ware ( Ware-Ford).
After a strategy-related leadership for Justin Haley (Kaulig-Chevrolet) and for Alex Bowman (Hendrick-Chevrolet), birthday boy Kyle Busch (Gibbs-Toyota) took over the command. In the last yellow phase in Stage 2, however, Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) stayed on the track. He won the restart and took the Stage 2 win ahead of Busch and Bowman.
Kyle Busch on course for victory – up to an unfavorable yellow phase
Because Blaney came to change tires in the stage caution instead, Kyle Busch took the lead again without a fight. What followed was a long green flag run. When it came to an end, the race at the front was turned upside down. Leader Busch and pursuer Bowman had just turned to the green flag stop when the yellow card was given.
Reason for the caution phase: The right front wheel of AJ Allmendinger’s Kaulig Chevrolet came off. As with Denny Hamlin at the start of Stage 2, it had not been pinned. The victims were Busch and Bowman. They only tackled the following restart from the eighth row of the grid. Ahead of them were now 14 riders who had stopped comfortably under yellow.
Chase Elliott clinches first win of the season
Ross Chastain led the field but was passed by Chase Elliott shortly after. So Elliott went into the last 50 laps as the leader. And it stayed that way. Elliott drove home his first win of the season in 2022 by 2.5 seconds over Ricky Stenhouse. Third went to Chastain, who clashed with Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs-Toyota) on the final lap. Truex Jr. then only took P12.
For birthday boy Kyle Busch it was only P7 after the unfortunate yellow phase. Last year’s winner Alex Bowman, who had the same bad luck, made it to P5 behind Christopher Bell. Kyle Larson finished sixth after his early spin. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin only finished P21 because he also received a speeding penalty after his penalty and crash.
The next stop on the 2022 NASCAR Cup calendar is Darlington Raceway this weekend. This year, the so-called “Throwback Weekend” is again characterized by numerous retro paint schemes. But: Due to the shifted starting numbers on the next-gen cars, the new editions of the historic car designs are no longer as “real” as they were in Darlington in previous years.