How Chase Elliott drove from eighth to first within the remaining ten laps to win Atlanta

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

Zane Smith led the way in which, 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 remaining 15 miles, Elliott was the one who made all the suitable 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

Operating the surface lane, Elliott was capable of get again to seventh with relative ease whereas the leaders went back-and-forth, retaining 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 together 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, slicing below 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 vital transfer as Smith was the one different Ford apart from Keselowski working on the entrance. The RFK Racing driver had no mates left, and alliances had been going to be every part within the closing moments of this race.

Smith tried to combat 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 properly selected neither, sweeping to the far inside in a daring three-wide move paying homage to what Stenhouse had simply executed.

It was a outstanding 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 compelled to fall again in line behind Reddick. If he hadn’t discovered that gap, it might have been sport over. However he did and did not sit there for lengthy, rebuilding the momentum in a single straightaway and diving again below 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 Pictures

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 sector 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 might 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 might to make sure Elliott bought 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 Pictures

Clearly, Keselowski was dissatisfied by the outcome, however he knew he had little likelihood when it grew to become two in opposition to one on the entrance of the sector.

“The #9 [Elliott] simply had the #48 [Bowman] behind him giving him an enormous push and there was nothing I might do to cowl that,” stated Keselowski. “When had our automobiles linked up at RFK we might 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 might.”

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 bought shuffled again. We had been coming again by the sector and bought again to 3rd. We had a very good No. 48 Ally Chevrolet tonight. Joyful for the No. 9 crew. It’s a giant win for them. Happy with everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and we’ll carry on digging.”

Reddick fell again to fourth on the finish, the very best of the Toyota drivers left within the race. “Made the fallacious transfer on the fallacious time, many of the evening,” he stated after the race. “If I sat and waited, I might get shuffled again, simply wanted to be slightly bit smarter with my transfer on the 6 [Keselowski]. I bought shuffled too far again to combat really for the win there, so simply disappointing for certain, nevertheless it was good to get a Playoff level and rating some factors at a superspeedway. Simply increasingly more new winners, so we’ve got to discover a method to victory lane.”