Although much of the spotlight in Atlanta centered on Chase Elliott’s speed and his surge from the top five to the front in the final five laps, this time, fans and Hendrick Motorsports team alike witnessed another key moment that tipped the scales. It was Alex Bowman who played the ace in the hole, delivering the decisive push that turned Elliott’s charge into a win and saved the day for the entire HMS outfit.

Jeff Andrews, the President and General Manager at Hendrick Motorsports, acknowledged Bowman’s role, stating, “We’re probably not sitting here tonight without Alex Bowman and the move he made.” He commended the combined effort of Bowman and crew chief Blake Harris for bringing a car to Atlanta that held its own during the crucial time.

For once, even the fanbase threw its weight behind Bowman. One remarked, “Bowman’s “Teammates” hung him out to dry for most the race, but Alex still helped them when the win was on the line.” A second supporter didn’t chop his praise: “Alex Bowman, I am your biggest defender.”

Another added, “Well now that we’ve got the other 3 virtually locked with wins, maybe let’s pay Bowman back and dump every. Single. Resource. Available. Into giving him a good car and crew for the next 8 weeks and getting him a win. Maybe his teammates can push him to a win for once also.”

In a race that sent entire multi-car teams packing, Elliott and Bowman found each other at precisely the right moment. The Lap 69 ‘Big One’ during the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway wreaked havoc across the field, taking out half the contenders in one fell swoop.

Entire stables were wiped out, Team Penske’s lineup was sidelined, and only one contender apiece remained from Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports: Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, and Zane Smith.

From the Hendrick stable, Elliott led the field at the time of the melee while the No. 48 HMS driver escaped the carnage with minor scrapes, keeping both cars in the hunt. As the laps ticked down, the front of the field became a revolving door, with Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and Reddick trading the lead in a three-way scrap. With five to go, Keselowski had the edge, Reddick trailed, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bowman, and Elliott filled the top five.

On Lap 258, Elliott pounced, diving under Bowman and Stenhouse down the backstretch before drawing level with Reddick. By Turn 2 of the following lap, he completed the pass and set his sights on the front. Then came the defining moment.

On the final lap, as Elliott rode in Keselowski’s slipstream, Bowman, running third, delivered the crucial bump down the front stretch, pushing Elliott past the No. 6 car as they entered Turn 1. From there, Elliott never lost command, sealing a perfect win in Atlanta. Bowman, the unsung architect of that last-lap charge, followed close behind in third.

Elliott acknowledges Bowman’s help

Following his Atlanta win, Elliott didn’t hesitate to credit Bowman’s timely assistance on the final lap, acknowledging his teammate’s crucial role during the post-race press conference.

Speaking candidly, he remarked, “He (Bowman) and I both knew that the only shot we as a company had at that juncture was to line up and push and hope that something worked out good in our favor because at that point it was two, one, and one.”

Elliott acknowledged both the unspoken coordination and Bowman’s two-pronged strategy, stating, “Whether it was he or I, obviously, we both want to win. I recognize that he gave me a great shove.

“I recognize that he took his run on Brad, too, to try to get himself to second, which ultimately helped me as well. Yeah, those are all things that I remember. We’ll do everything we can do to try and bring fast cars over the course of the next number of weeks.”

Elliott also expressed a genuine hope that Bowman’s efforts would soon bear fruit, noting that his teammate had endured a punishing run of misfortune over the past month. Praising Bowman’s speed and persistence, Elliott concluded, “It would be nice to see him grab a win and get in.”

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Connor Hall‘s second straight triumph in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway was far less eventful compared to his charge from last place in 2024.

But it was more sentimental.

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With a strong second-half performance in Saturday‘s 200-lap feature, Hall brought home the first Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 victory in the history of JR Motorsports‘ Late Model Stock program. Aware of the gold standard that has long followed JR Motorsports, Hall wanted to add onto their prestigious legacy when he joined the team during the offseason.

Hall‘s chapter in JR Motorsports‘ story is still being written, but he said the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 victory is indicative of the early chemistry the team possesses.

“It‘s pretty cool to give [JR Motorsports] a first,” Hall said. “Between Carson [Kvapil] and Josh [Berry], I think they checked off the rest. It‘s a huge blessing to be able to run in [the No. 88] and represent the Earnhardt family. I‘m still kind of learning because I‘ve only been down there really five months and I‘m trying to make the best of it.”

Synergy was imperative from Hall and JR Motorsports as the diligently worked to find speed in their No. 88 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet throughout the weekend at South Boston.

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In the two practice sessions Saturday, Hall did not post a time quick enough to crack the top 10. The initial lack of speed did not intimidate Hall in the slightest. He put his trust in crew chief Bryan Shaffer and the rest of his team to get the car right in time for qualifying.

Hall‘s confidence proved to be grounded. He set the third quickest time of the 38 cars entered in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, which provided him optimal track position for the grueling night ahead.

Several potential contenders such as Peyton Sellers and Trevor Ward, the top two in South Boston‘s Late Model Stock standings, saw their evenings get derailed early due to on-track accidents. With no carnage within his vicinity, Hall could keep his focus centered on chasing down polesitter Matt Waltz for the victory.

Waltz was a familiar face to Hall stemming from his days as a regular at Langley Speedway, so Hall knew the veteran racer would pull no punches in their shared pursuit of a Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 win. Hall stayed patient with Waltz until 80 to go when he made what he believed was the decisive pass for the lead.

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Momentum appeared to shift back toward Waltz on a later restart when he utilized the bottom line to power his way around Hall for the lead. A caution for the two separately stopped cars of Bobby McCarty and Justin Carroll was displayed before a green flag lap was completed, moving Hall back to the spot by rule.

Waltz never got another solid chance at Hall‘s advantage. He was tasked with fending off Darren Krantz Jr. for second while Hall capitalized on the perfectly timed caution to secure another Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 checkered flag.

“Anytime you get the lead back, it‘s a break,” Hall said. “Matt was strong and I think we were the better car by the end of the race, but at that point, it was a little more 50-50. I‘d be lying if I was cool, calm and collected about losing the lead with 40 laps to go.”

Excelling in marquee Late Model Stock events has become common practice for Hall over the past several years. Along with his two Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 wins, Hall‘s list of achievements includes victories in Hickory Motor Speedway‘s Fall Brawl and the prestigious Hampton Heat at Langley back in 2019.

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Being in South Boston‘s Victory Lane with fireworks as a backdrop provided Hall some time to reflect on how his Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 wins came together. Each event saw Hall face some sort of adversity, but on both occasions, Hall relied on his experience and that of the people around him to find his way towards the front.

“[The two wins] are nice in their own way,” Hall said. “Last year was so awesome with the story of coming from the back, but this year, I wasn‘t near the top of the speed chart all weekend really. We stuck to our guns and focused on the race. It‘s nice to run in the top three all night and come home with a clean race car and a win.”

Now that he has conquered the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 once again, Hall is setting his sights on another item he and JR Motorsports have yet to cross off on their respective bucket lists: the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown.

Hall has plenty of reasons to be optimistic ahead of the next Virginia Triple Crown race in the Hampton Heat, being a past winner and track champion. While Hall would love to perform a sweep of the three Virginia Triple Crown races with JR Motorsports, he also intends to enjoy every step of the journey regardless of the outcome.

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“The older I get, the more I‘m learning to be a lot more appreciative of trying to live in the moment and just be happy,” Hall said. “We‘re going to go to Langley and try to finish one spot better in the Hampton Heat. I thought I was going to give Kvapil a run for their money at Martinsville last year but had that plug wire fall off.

“We need to be smart, bring a great race car to the track and do what JR Motorsports does.”

Winning races has always been a part of JR Motorsports‘ identity as a driver. Saturday‘s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 proved the organization is primed to keep visiting Victory Lane with Hall as their driver.

Chase Elliott has snapped a 44-race winless streak, surviving a chaotic NASCAR Cup race and completing a dramatic last-lap pass to win at his home track in Atlanta, Georgia.

EchoPark Speedway produced breath-taking action from start to finish, and despite all the carnage, the only battle scar on the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was a donut on the driver’s door. He became the 12th different winner of the 2025 season on Saturday night, locking himself into the 2025 playoffs.

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“What a crazy race,” said Elliott, who took the lead with a huge inside pass on the entry into Turn 1. His teammate Alex Bowman helped to ensure Brad Keselowski could never fight back with Keselowski crossing the line in second and Bowman third.

Elliott’s immediate reaction after capturing the checkered flag: “Unbelievable… unbelievable. How about that? Are you kidding me? I’ve never in my life… This is unbelievable. Thank you guys so much. What a special car and just a huge thanks to NAPA Auto Parts and everything they do for me and to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Rhealynn Mills designed to fast NAPA Chevrolet tonight, so this was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget. Thank you guys so much.”

Watch: Chase Elliott: ‘Unbelievable’ to win hometown race at EchoPark

Tyler Reddick finished fourth and Erik Jones fifth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, and Carson Hocevar filled out the remainder of the top ten.

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The final stage of the race went green with 92 laps to go and the Hendrick duo of Elliott and Bowman were in control. A few laps into the run, Shane van Gisbergen went for a wild spin through the grass after contact from Ty Gibbs, but he managed to straighten it out. He did lose a few laps in the pits as the team made repairs.

This yellow put the field just outside the fuel window but most of the lead pack chose to pit anyway. However, the trio of Bowman, Elliott, and Keselowski, who were running first through third, chose to stay out.

But fuel was never really a story, as they were far from done with the wrecks. Bubba Wallace, who fought his way back onto the lead lap after an earlier incident, lost control and hit the inside wall on the backstretch. More cautions followed as Jones went for a spin, David Starr stopped on track, and Justin Haley spun with 34 laps to go.

Haley’s incident ended up being the final caution of the race and the final 30 laps produced incredible back-and-forth racing for the lead. Several different drivers took turns out front, but it was Elliott who timed it perfectly at the very end. NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver now has 20 career wins in the Cup Series.

Stages 1 and 2

Photo by: Krista Jasso / Getty Images

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The first two stages were non-stop action, except for when light showers caused a 20-minute delay 43 laps into the event.

Ryan Blaney crashed out of the race after Christopher Bell lost control in the middle of the pack. That forced the first stage to end under caution with Austin Cindric out front.

When the second stage went green, the defining moment of the race occurred as a massive 23-car pileup that eliminated several drivers from the race. The wreck forced a brief red flag as they dragged the damaged cars and debris off the track. Pole-sitter Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, and William Byron were just some of the names taken out of the race.

With a far smaller field, the race resumed and the intensity remained high. Riley Herbst and Todd Gilliland crashed out of the event, but this stage would at least end under green-flag conditions. Tyler Reddick claimed the Stage 2 win in a stunning photo finish, beating Elliott by 0.001s.

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Read Also:

NASCAR halts Atlanta Cup race after huge crash collects half the field

Ryan Blaney gets “caught up in other people’s garbage” at Atlanta

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

Zane Smith Key Takeaways

• Stage One: 21st / Stage Two: 9th / Race Result: 7th

• “It was fun to lead some of those final closing laps. I don’t know where it went wrong. I just feel like we went back and forth. Sometimes just one car was clearing me, and I’d build my run back up and then go make another charge at it, and then it just kind of seemed like two guys got by me and you’re just not able to have as much throttle time. My runs weren’t quite the same, but all in all, it was just a really good and a really fast Aaron’s FRM Ford Mustang. It was really cool to have the Lucky Dog scheme back and run up front with it. I’m just proud of the effort, but I wish it panned out a little bit different there.”

Noah Gragson Key Takeaways

• Stage One: 18th / Stage Two: 26th / Race Result: 25th

• “Tough day for this No. 4 team,” said Gragson. “We had solid pace and were making moves but got caught up in the ‘Big One’ and just couldn’t recover the laps. The good news is we’re on to the next round of the challenge, and I’m looking forward to getting to Chicago and hopefully putting together a clean race weekend.”

Todd Gilliland Key Takeaways

• Stage One: 32nd / Stage Two: 28th / Race Result: 27th

• “We had a fast Rinnai Ford Mustang Dark Horse and were running pretty well until we got caught up with the No. 35 and broke a toe link,” said Gilliland. “It’s part of it. Overall, I’m happy with the speed we brought, so there is some confidence heading into Chicago.”

FRM PR

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Chase Elliott couldn’t have picked a better setting for a drought-breaking win.

Fans roared in approval after Elliott, the home-state favorite, passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap to end a 44-race drought by winning the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta on Saturday night.

Elliott’s 20th career victory pushed him to second place in the Cup Series points race, putting him in prime position to return to the top of the NASCAR world after winning his first championship in 2020.

Elliott earned a spot in the NASCAR playoffs with his first victory since April 2024 at Texas. He said he’ll always remember the win as a career highlight, in part because of the ovation from fans who chanted “Chase! Chase! Chase!”

Elliott, a Dawsonville, Georgia, native, climbed into the stands at EchoPark Speedway, formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, to celebrate with the fans.

“It was, truthfully, a pretty surreal moment,” Elliott said. “Something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. … Saturday night under the lights, been a while since we won, just getting ourselves a win and advancing up on the playoff thing.”

It was his first Atlanta win since 2022.

Elliott has 594 points, 37 behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who has 631. A third Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kyle Larson, is third.

Another Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman, played a key role in Elliott’s comeback win. Bowman, who finished third, gave Elliott a push and then helped block Keselowski on the final lap.

“I’m happy for the 9 team,” Bowman said. “It’s a big win for him in his hometown. … I’m glad to have a Hendrick car in victory lane. I wish it was us.”

Elliott said he’ll try to repay the favor by helping Bowman join the other three Hendrick drivers in the playoffs.

“I recognize that he gave me a great shove,” Elliott said. “I recognize that he took his run on Brad, too, to try to get himself to second, which ultimately helped me as well.

“Yeah, those are all things that I remember.”

Elliott advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s new In-Season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament. With the field cut from 32 to 16 drivers, Elliott will be paired against John Hunter Nemechek when the Cup Series moves to the Chicago Street Race next Sunday.

A $1 million prize awaits the winner, and Elliott’s odds improved after Atlanta wrecks knocked out the top two seeds, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.

Elliott wouldn’t be the first family member to win a $1 million bonus. In 1985 his father, Bill Elliott, became the first winner of the Winston Million as a reward for claiming wins in three of the circuit’s top four races at the time. The bonus earned the elder Elliott the nickname “Million Dollar Bill.”

Now the younger Elliott is a strong contender to become first in line for another $1 million prize.

“It’d be a really cool thing to win for sure and hope it works out that way,” Chase Elliott said.

Elliott’s victory drought came after he needed surgery to repair a broken tibia in his left leg suffered in a snowboarding accident and missed six races in 2023. He said the support of longtime crew chief Alan Gustafson was “in large part” responsible for helping him retain his confidence and reclaim his winning form.

Gustafson said the win was more important for the 2025 playoff race than for ending the victory drought.

“The points were getting tight for the playoffs, for sure,” Gustafson said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing. I think all the cars contending to win, I don’t think any of them had won. I think that’s probably the biggest thing we needed was that cushion.”

Saturday night’s win was Elliott’s third consecutive top-five finish.

“When you’re fortunate enough to climb the mountain and be able to stand at the top of the mountain with someone, that’s an incredible achievement, right?” Elliott said. “That’s something that (Gustafson) and I will always cherish and remember that we did that together.

“For me it’s really, really important to climb that mountain with the same people that we did the first time and know that we never quit on each other. That’s just a really important piece of the puzzle for me.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Charles Odum, The Associated Press

Chase Elliott snapped his NASCAR winless streak with a dramatic win at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, with the Hendrick Motorsports star sending a message to team boss Rick Hendrick

Chase Elliott issued a heartfelt shoutout to Rick Hendrick with the team boss watching from home as he driver ended his NASCAR winless run.

Elliott snatched an emotional triumph at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, while driving a special paint scheme. He broke through the chaos to claim victory in a race that saw a huge crash bust brackets for the new In-Season Challenge.

A daring maneuver on the final lap nudged Elliott’s No. 9 past Brad Keselowski, sealing his first win since Texas last April. And he quickly remembered to send a touch message over the airwaves to his loyal team boss watching on screen, before later being passed a phone to presumable speak to Mr Hendrick in Victory Lane.

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“Hey to Mr Hendrick at home. Thanks for sticking with me, pal,” he said during his TNT Sports post-race interview.

Reflecting on snapping a 44-race streak, Elliott said: “Unbelievable. How about that? Are you kidding me? I never in my life. This is unbelievable. Thank you guys so much. What a special car. It was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget.

“I just think that, honestly, all the cars fell in the right places there those last couple of laps. What a crazy race, man!

“I don’t know if y’all had fun but it was wild from my seat, so glad we got to run that thing out there til the end.”

In the euphoric aftermath of his finish line cross, Elliott exploded over the radio with a jubilant: “YESS!” Then followed up with heartfelt praise: “Awesome job, man! Awesome! Thank you guys, so much.”

Crew chief Alan Gustafson was all praise over the radio, declaring: “Awesome job, buddy. Awesome. You’re the man buddy. You’re the man.”

Elliott, feeling the team effort, responded with gratitude: “Awesome. Preciate y’all, man. Thanks for sticking with it.”

This triumph seals their fate in the high stakes playoffs, skyrocketing them as the 10th driver this season to notch a victory and clench a coveted position in the playoffs’ high-octane showdowns.