Pit Miscue & Traffic Hinder Dominant Elliott At Dover

Chase Elliott in action at Dover Motor Speedway. (Wyatt Tinsley/Motorsports Hotspot photo)

DOVER, Del. – When it comes to who had the best in-race odds to win Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, it would likely have been Chase Elliott.

But, despite his dominance in the first half of the race, Elliott went from the man to beat to a non-factor by the end of double overtime.

Elliott finished sixth at the ‘Monster Mile’, collecting his 12th top 10 of the NASCAR Cup Series season and extending his streak of finishing inside the top 20 to 21 races in a row.

However, even with his strong season continuing, Elliott had his eyes set on his second win in four weeks. The consolation was that he did move into the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season point lead by 16 over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.

“I’m really proud of the effort all day, we had a couple of little hiccups here and there but we had a nice recovery,” said Elliott. “We were able to get back to the lead after falling back but I didn’t want to see that caution for rain [on lap 338], but that’s part of it and things can change really fast.”

With practice and qualifying being rained out Saturday, Elliott started Sunday’s race from the pole position. He took the opportunity and capitalized on it, leading 238 laps and accounting for nearly 60 percent of the race out front.

Elliott was able to win stage one, then finished fourth in stage two to total 17 stage points on the day.

However, once he lost the lead to the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Christopher Bell and eventual race winner Denny Hamlin, Elliott couldn’t recover.

With NASCAR bringing a new tire specifically designed to create more wear and lay down more rubber on the concrete mile, passing was a challenge due to the significant tire difference.

Dirty air also played a factor in Elliott’s inability to get back up front. Once the 29-year-old tried to cross the “wake” of a competitor's rear bumper, the air affected his ability to charge forward, often forcing him to lay off the throttle in corners.

Even with the mix of hot temperatures and a 56-minute red flag with 17 laps to go for rain that served as a reset, Elliott’s car still couldn’t find its race winning speed from the first half.

“It’s always tougher as the race goes on to maintain pace, I feel like in these cars you get to halfway and the track changes,” said Elliott. “I feel like that transition happened, and then when it got overcast the track really got bottom lane dominant and the track changed a ton.”

Despite recovering from a slow pit stop due to the jack dropping too soon, Elliott fell short of winning at Dover for the third time in his career.

“My pit crew did a great job. I don’t know if [my jackman] T.J. Semke had an issue with the jack, but we were at the point in the race where there was still a lot of time to recover,” Elliott said. “It’s not sunshine and rainbows all the time, so you have to deal with whatever comes your way. We had an issue come our way and we dealt with it well.”

The Dawsonville, Ga., native captured his 11th top 10 at Dover, and his average finish at the track in the Next Gen car rose to fifth place. Also, Sunday marked the third time in his career Elliott has led over 200 laps in a race, and the first at a track that’s not Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway.

His average finish for the 2025 season also climbed to 10th place, the best of his Cup Seriescareer.

With five races remaining in the regular season, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In his career, Elliott has two top 10s, and finished 11th at the Brickyard in 2024.

Sunday in the Racing Capitol of the World, he will look to further his point lead over the rest of the field.

Coverage of the 29th Brickyard 400 presented by PPG from Indianapolis begins Sunday, July 27 at 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.