Chase Elliott wins rainy Cup race at Circuit of the Americas for milestone Hendrick victory

One of NASCAR’s most highly anticipated races of the season ran Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, so Mother Nature kept it consistent and hit the track with rain.

Chase Elliott also kept it consistent by adding another road course win to his resume. Elliott earned his 12th career Cup victory, half of which have been on a road course. This time, Elliott was out of his car before taking the checkered flag. NASCAR ended the race early due to inclement weather.

“Not the ideal way to win, but we’ll take it,” Elliott said on FS1 of his first win of the season.

Milestone win for Hendrick, Chevrolet

The No. 9 driver was leading the field when the race was red-flagged for poor visibility and standing water on the track. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson was chasing Elliott down as the leader’s fuel dwindled. Larson finished in second place to give the organization another top-two finish after all four HMS cars finished in the top-four last weekend at Dover.

With Elliott’s victory, the organization tied Petty Enterprises with 268 wins in the Cup Series and 800 wins for Chevrolet.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said. “You didn’t know what was going to happen there at the end of the race.”

“I could not be more proud to tie Richard (Petty),” Hendrick continued. “To win that 800th win for Chevy means a lot to me.”

HMS kept a longstanding streak alive for its manufacturer. A Hendrick driver delivered Chevrolet’s 400th, 500th, 600th, 700th and 800th victories in NASCAR’s top series, and Hendrick is looking to keep the momentum rolling into the Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte next weekend.

“Our shops are about a mile away (from Charlotte) and everybody would be able to celebrate together, so that would be awesome,” Hendrick said. Then he smiled at Larson over Zoom. “Kyle needs to do it.”

The organization is on a roll with all four drivers having at least one win this season. Alex Bowman has two, and the team has now tied Joe Gibbs Racing in wins this year at five.

Rain disrupts another big NASCAR race

After rain significantly stalled the Daytona 500 and postponed the dirt race at Bristol earlier this year, it was only fitting that the inaugural Cup race at the road course in Austin, Texas was impacted by weather. Teams slapped on rain tires after NASCAR declared a “damp” start and they were off on the 20-turn course known for hosting Formula 1.

Prior to the race, at least two Cup driver William Byron and Joey Logano called the wet road course racing at COTA “a blast” after making laps on a damp track during practice.

But many teams were not able to overcome impaired visibility early in the main event and avoid spins. Some drivers questioned the safety of racing through conditions they called unsafe. The race was red-flagged before the halfway point for a violent wreck on the backstretch involving Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Custer.

Custer slammed hard into the back of Truex’s car, partially lifting it off the ground and nearly flipping the No. 19. Custer then hit an inside barrier to send his car up in flames. Both drivers quickly exited their vehicles without injuries, but commented on the frightening incident after they were released from the care center.

“I’m not sure how we can make it easier or better,” Truex said on FS1. “But man, it’s dangerous. And you just go down the backstretch every lap praying there’s nobody having an issue.”

He hit Michael McDowell’s slowed car in a cloud of mist and Custer came up fast behind him to deliver the next blow.

“I didn’t know he even got damaged at that point,” Custer said on FS1. “You (couldn’t) see anything by the time I got to him.”

Kevin Harvick, who crashed out a few laps before the red flag, delivered strong words on the safety of running in the low-visibility conditions, saying that drivers “don’t have any business being out in the rain, period.”

“All I can say is this is the worst decision that we’ve ever made in our sport that I’ve been a part of, and I’ve never felt more unsafe in my whole racing career, period,” Harvick told NBC Sports.

Elliott finds a way to win

Others didn’t find the conditions as dangerous. Larson acknowledged that “there’s honestly nothing safe about being a racecar driver” and credited NASCAR with making progress to dry the track with the Air Titans during the first red flag after Truex and Custer wrecked.

After green flag pit stops in the final stage and with under 20 laps remaining, Elliott raced back to the front of the pack but was dwindling on fuel and hoping for a caution. Instead, the rain picked up, drivers complained of hydroplaning, and NASCAR called teams to a stop with 54 of 68 laps completed.

“I think a lot of guys would say the standing water was getting pretty serious,” Elliott said. “It might have gotten better. It might’ve not. Who knows?”

NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition Scott Miller told media members at the track that officials should have stopped the race earlier and that they would make improvements.

“I would kind of own the fact that maybe we did let it go a little bit too long there before we did something,” Miller said. “But it’s a learning experience for all of us. We will learn. We will be better next time...Would we pull the plug earlier? Probably so.”

While some fans deemed Elliott’s win controversial, drivers didn’t appear upset by NASCAR not waiting out the rain. Kyle Busch, who finished in 10th, said “enough’s enough.”

“White flag,” Busch told FOX Sports. “Wave it.”

Elliott recognized that he was the beneficiary of the call, and said he preferred to leave that decision in NASCAR’s hands. He was in the right place at the right time.

“I’ll try to make the most of whatever it is and try to do my job the best I can,” he said.

Results from NASCAR race at COTA

This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 7:56 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription