Chase Elliott Barrels Through Last-Lap Chaos to Secure Kansas Victory

Kylie Graham-Imagn Images

Kansas Speedway has developed a reputation, as of late, for hosting some of NASCAR's most classic barnburner finishes, including last Spring's photo finish between Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher -- the closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series.

The conclusion of Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 was just another notch in the racetrack's belt.

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, launched from eighth on the second attempt at NASCAR Overtime, but with the help of four Goodyear tires and some calamity on the final lap of the 400-mile contest, NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver found himself on the frontstretch celebrating his second win of 2025.

While the native of Dawsonville, Georgia navigated through some of the front-runners from the outside lane on the restart, it was the final lap battle between Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace that ultimately opened the door for the Hendrick Motorsports driver to sneak through with the victory – the 21st of his career in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Bubba Wallace, who entered the race in a precarious position when it came to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, had mastered several restarts against Christopher Bell, but fell vulnerable to Denny Hamlin, his team owner on the final lap.

As Hamlin drove to the inside of the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE down the backstretch, all it took was a lunge by the 44-year-old driver in the final set of corners to send both drivers up the racetrack and allow Elliott to sneak low – getting a door full of the No. 11 machine exiting the corner.

“I don’t know, man. Everything worked out perfect for me. Had a great push through one and two. That kind of all started with [Brad Keselowski]. Big run off two, seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it,” Elliott told Marty Snider post-race. Obviously, we still had pretty good tires compared to those guys, but what a crazy finish.”

RACE RESULTS: 2025 NCS Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas

Elliott made it to the start-finish line with the victory, while Hamlin and Wallace were swarmed by a hungry pack of drivers behind. Like the rest of the world watching on, the 29-year-old driver was befuddled by what happened in the closing laps of the race.

“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.”

After losing a great deal of momentum in the final set of corners, Denny Hamlin was still able to bring home a second-place finish but fell 0.069 seconds short of collecting his landmark 60th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

While you wouldn’t necessarily know it based on the performance of Hamlin, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was struggling with power steering issues all throughout the final stage of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400.

“Just super disappointing. I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 for me,” said Hamlin. “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. Obviously, got really, really tight with the No. 23, and it just got real tight and we let the No. 9 win.”

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe scrambled to the start-finish line to finish third and fourth, while Bubba Wallace, who led much of the closing portion of the event, was relegated back to fifth with the last-lap contact.

Kyle Larson ended up sixth, with Tyler Reddick seventh, Brad Keselowski eighth, William Byron in ninth despite having a terrible handling race car throughout much of the event, and Shane Van Gisbergen finished 10th in what was his first top-10 result on an oval in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Ross Chastain (11th), Joey Logano (21st), Ryan Blaney (24th), and Austin Cindric (30th) were the four NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers who failed to finish inside the top-10. For Logano and Cindric, the poor result was largely a result of crash damage sustained in a wreck during the final stage of the race, which collected a total of 11 cars, including AJ Allmendinger and Ricky Stenhouse.

The scariest incident of the afternoon, though, came in NASCAR Overtime, when Zane Smith found himself riding along the outside SAFER Barrier in Turns 3 and 4 after contact from John Hunter Nemechek. Smith then rolled down the banking and came to rest on his wheels, but was able to emerge from his SpeedyCash.com-sponsored machine uninjured.

Only Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott have guaranteed themselves spots in the semi-final round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs heading into the second elimination event of the post-season, next weekend at Charlotte's ROVAL (October 5 at 3:00 PM ET on USA Network).

Ross Chastain (-13), Bubba Wallace (-26), Tyler Reddick (-29), and Austin Cindric (-48) are the four drivers currently sitting below the cutline heading to next weekend's event at the purpose-built road course in Concord, North Carolina. Joey Logano sits on the cutline.