Chase Elliott Wins the NASCAR Cup Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte

Jared Tilton/Getty Images

CONCORD, NC – RIS – Chase Elliott finally won a Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday night in the Alsco 5oo 500km race.  He ran down Kevin Harvick in the closing laps for his first victory of the 2020 season.  Elliott had near won the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday, but late-race scrap with Kyle Busch ended his effort. 

The race was rain-delayed and rained on after running 30 laps.  Those delays made it feel like a 600 -mile race, but it was just over 300 miles.  Joey Logano won the first stage and Alex Bowman the second, but it appeared Kevin Harvick, but Harvick finished 10th.

“Appreciate the fight, guys. It was a tough week,” Elliott told his team over his in-car communications on the cool-down lap.

Denny Hamlin claimed second place in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. Ryan Blaney secured third place, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kurt Busch completing the top five in order.

Harvick led a race-high 63 laps, but his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford slipped to a 10th-place finish in the closing laps.

Alex Bowman led 51 laps in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet but faded from contention after a scrape of the Turn 4 retaining wall forced him to pit road with 72 laps remaining. He finished 31st.

Kyle Busch also fell from the ranks of early favorites when his No. 18 Toyota absorbed left-rear damage in a jumble for position at the start of Stage 2. He pitted with a flat tire and never returned to the lead lap, finishing 29th.

Once in front Elliott had little competition.  Once he passed Harvick, he kept increasing his lead as Harvick faded. 

Elliott's victory was the first for a Chevrolet driver in NASCAR's return to Cup racing. Harvick won the first race back in a Ford, Hamlin won the second race in a Toyota and Brad Keselowski won the 600 in a Ford.

But Elliott and his Hendrick teammates have been strong since the series came back from a 10-week shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic. Elliott, Alex Bowman, William Byron and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson have all led laps -- a huge boost for a team that has been rebuilding for much of the past three seasons.

The rescheduled Thursday event was disrupted by lightning and rain for nearly 75 minutes after 30 laps had been completed.

The next NASCAR Cup race will be at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 1st in the Food City Presents  Supermarket Heroes 500.

Unofficial Results, ALSCO Uniforms 500, Charlotte Motor Speedway: Concord, NC: 1.5: Mile Paved

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 19, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, 208, 9, 4, 1, 28, 5, 49, Running
2) 29, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx #SupportSmall Toyota, 208, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 18, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor Ford, 208, 2, 2, 2, 2, , 52, Running
4) 24, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 208, 6, , , , , 38, Running
5) 14, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 208, 8, 6, , , , 40, Running
6) 8, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 208, 1, 3, 3, 42, 1, 49, Running
7) 20, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 208, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 7, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet, 208, 7, 7, , , , 37, Running
9) 15, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 208, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 16, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 208, 4, 5, 3, 63, , 40, Running
11) 40, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 1, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 208, , , 2, 11, , 25, Running
13) 5, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 SCAG Ford, 208, , 8, , , , 27, Running
14) 13, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Okuma Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 4, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Richmond Ford, 208, 3, , 2, 10, , 30, Running
16) 39, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 PEAK Ford, 208, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 27, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Roush Performance Ford, 208, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 9, Cole Custer #, No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford, 208, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 23, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Superior Logistics Ford, 208, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 6, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 208, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 12, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Procore Toyota, 208, , 9, , , , 18, Running
22) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 208, 10, , , , , 16, Running
23) 26, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 207, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 22, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Cottonelle Chevrolet, 207, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 3, Michael McDowell, No. 34 CarParts.com Ford, 207, , , 1, 1, , 12, Running
26) 10, Erik Jones, No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, 207, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 25, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 207, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 28, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 Today.Tomorrow.Toyota Toyota, 207, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 17, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Fudge Brownie Toyota, 207, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 31, Gray Gaulding, No. 27 Panini America Ford, 206, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 2, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/NOCO Chevrolet, 206, 5, 1, 1, 51, 1, 22, Running
32) 35, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Good Greek Movers Chevrolet, 205, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 34, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 205, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 21, JJ Yeley(i), No. 77 Aquesta Bank Chevrolet, 204, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 32, * BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Circle Track Warehouse Ford, 203, , , , , , 0, Running
36) 37, * Josh Bilicki(i), No. 7 Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 38, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet, 165, , 10, , , , 2, Accident
38) 30, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 SpartanGo Chevrolet, 86, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 36, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Ford, 8, , , , , , 0, DVP
40) 33, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Chevrolet, 0, , , , , , 0, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie)

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 29 Mins, 23 Secs.
Race Length: 208 Laps, 312. Miles
Average Speed: 125.315 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2.208 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 12, 21, 4, 88, 47, 3, 1, 9, 17
Stage 2 Top 10: 88, 12, 22, 9, 4, 1, 3, 38, 95, 43

Race Comments: Chase Elliott won the Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his seventh victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 10 (unapproved adjustments), Nos. 7, 77 (driver change).

Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps
Laps: 2-9 (No. 51, 53 Incident Turn 3 [None])
22-24 (Competition Caution [None])
31-34 (No. 42 Spin Turn 4 [Red Flag: 1:14:02] [None])
57-62 (Stage 1 Conclusion [66])
74-78 (No. 15, 00 Incident Turn 2 [42])
117-122 (Stage 2 Conclusion [27])
145-149 (No. 66 Incident Turn 4 [42]).

Lead Changes: 15 among 8 drivers
W. Byron 0
M. DiBenedetto 1-9
W. Byron 10
M. DiBenedetto 11
W. Byron 12-21
J. Logano 22-23
M. McDowell 24
J. Logano 25-57
R. Blaney 58
J. Logano 59-65
K. Harvick 66-74
A. Bowman 75-125
K. Harvick 126-145
R. Blaney 146
K. Harvick 147-180
C. Elliott 181-208.