RICHMOND, Va. – Perseverance and opportunism were the names of the game on Sunday.
Kyle Larson (seventh) and Chase Elliott (ninth) both came home with top-10 finishes, salvaging solid showings in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond.
The Hendrick Motorsports teammates entered Sunday 1-2 in the Cup points standings with the organization keeping its stranglehold on the top two spots over the last seven weeks.
Sunday’s event was the first points-paying race to incorporate two types of rubber. Each team was issued six sets of “prime” tires, the normal Goodyear compound, and two sets of “option” tires, a softer rubber making for faster short-run speeds but more significant long-run wear.
That created a myriad of strategies throughout the event, particularly at the end.
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Elliott, in a new, red, Coca-Cola paint scheme on the No. 9 Chevrolet, was the cream of the organizational crop throughout much of the race. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native tallied six stage points including a sixth-place finish in Stage 1 to pace the Hendrick Motorsports contingent.
As Stage 3 stretched on, Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team picked up the baton and were poised to finish 10th before a late crash in Turn 1 sent the race to overtime. Most teams had a set of option tires left and they were put on for the final dash to the checkers.
Coming out of Turn 4 on the last lap, Austin Dillon bumped Joey Logano out of the way and hooked Denny Hamlin, triggering a crash at the front of the field. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates were able to navigate the chaos safely, maximizing their night.
William Byron, driving the No. 24 Valvoline Chevy, finished 13th. That followed a seventh-place finish in the Richmond spring race.
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Alex Bowman fell behind a lap during pit stops in Stage 2 with a few cars using an early set of option tires to push the pace. The No. 48 Ally Racing team was unable to make up for the early setback as well as a speeding penalty and ultimately finished 28th.
Just three races remain in the Cup Series regular season and all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are locked into the playoffs via wins.
Next up is a trip to Michigan Speedway with coverage set to start at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The race will air on USA Network and will be broadcast on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
