How Chase Elliott drove from eighth to first in the final ten laps to win Atlanta

With ten laps to go, it appeared like Chase Elliott’s shot of profitable at his house observe was rapidly fading. He had fallen to eighth within the working order and the Fords had been working properly collectively on the entrance of the pack.

Zane Smith led the best way, looking for his first profession win. Actually, each driver inside the highest ten was winless in 2025, resulting in some determined strikes and near-wrecks. However over the course of these ultimate 15 miles, Elliott was the one who made all the appropriate strikes to get again to the lead on the very finish. However how did all of it go down?

The march again to the entrance

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet; Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photograph by: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs

Operating the surface lane, Elliott was capable of get again to seventh with relative ease whereas the leaders went back-and-forth, maintaining the pack bunched up. Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was dicing it up for the lead whereas Elliott discovered himself in a foul spot as Carson Hocevar almost misplaced it immediately in entrance of him. Elliott had nowhere to go along with Chris Buescher on to his inside so he simply shoved the No. 77 of Hocevar ahead.

Bowman and Smith continued to swap the lead as Elliott regrouped and set his sights on sixth place, chopping underneath Hocevar and clearing him from the within. Issues had been getting tense within the battle for the win as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made a daring three-wide move for the highest spot. Bowman ended up getting stalled out and Elliott made his personal three-wide move to the surface of his teammate, re-entering the highest 5.

Brad Keselowski moved into the lead as Elliott and Bowman break up Smith, shuffling the No. 38 again. That was a important transfer as Smith was the one different Ford apart from Keselowski working on the entrance. The RFK Racing driver had no buddies left, and alliances had been going to be every little thing within the closing moments of this race.

Smith tried to battle again, pulling alongside Elliott, however the 2020 NASCAR Cup champion held sturdy on the surface. With simply three laps to go, he had the selection to both push Stenhouse from the highest line or transfer low and assist his teammate. Elliott correctly selected neither, sweeping to the far inside in a daring three-wide move harking back to what Stenhouse had simply accomplished.

It was a exceptional transfer, clearing each drivers in the identical nook and even pulling up alongside Tyler Reddick for the runner-up spot. With Bowman serving to, he was almost as much as Keselowski when the race chief slammed the door on him into Flip 3. Within the soiled air, Elliott was pressured to fall again in line behind Reddick. If he hadn’t discovered that gap, it may have been recreation over. However he did and did not sit there for lengthy, rebuilding the momentum in a single straightaway and diving again underneath Reddick. He cleared him with simply two laps left, now throughout Keselowski. 

Teamwork for the win

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet; Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photograph by: David J. Griffin – Icon Sportswire – Getty Photographs

There have been three completely different producers within the prime three, so everybody was going to be looking for themselves. However that is when Bowman dove beneath Reddick, clearing him and filling the spot immediately behind his teammate.

Keselowski was main as the sphere took the white flag, however the battle was already over at this level. Elliott laid again and picked up a pleasant push, permitting him to surge ahead and dive to the within of Keselowski. He desperately tried to dam, however there was nothing he may do as Elliott claimed the race lead.

Keselowski now had Bowman behind him however he by no means had the possibility to rebuild momentum as Bowman did what he may to make sure Elliott obtained away cleanly. Whereas Keselowski and Bowman battled over second place, Elliott pulled forward and captured the checkered flag, snapping a 44-race winless streak.

Driver reactions

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photograph by: Krista Jasso / Getty Photographs

Clearly, Keselowski was disillusioned by the consequence, however he knew he had little probability when it turned two towards one on the entrance of the sphere.

“The #9 [Elliott] simply had the #48 [Bowman] behind him giving him an enormous push and there was nothing I may do to cowl that,” stated Keselowski. “When had our automobiles linked up at RFK we may do the identical factor, however we misplaced that and it was simply form of a two-on-one and I fought as exhausting as I may.”

Bowman, who can also be winless in 2025, stated of the end: “I wanted to not be within the lead as early as I used to be. I felt like whoever was main was form of a sitting duck there on the finish with how good everybody’s automobiles had been driving. I simply obtained shuffled again. We had been coming again by way of the sphere and obtained again to 3rd. We had a extremely good No. 48 Ally Chevrolet tonight. Blissful for the No. 9 workforce. It’s a giant win for them. Pleased with everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and we’ll carry on digging.”

Reddick fell again to fourth on the finish, one of the best of the Toyota drivers left within the race. “Made the improper transfer on the improper time, a lot of the night time,” he stated after the race. “If I sat and waited, I’d get shuffled again, simply wanted to be somewhat bit smarter with my transfer on the 6 [Keselowski]. I obtained shuffled too far again to battle really for the win there, so simply disappointing for positive, but it surely was good to get a Playoff level and rating some factors at a superspeedway. Simply increasingly more new winners, so we’ve to discover a strategy to victory lane.”

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