Elliott Steals One on the Last Lap!

Chase Elliott celebrates his win in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400! (Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Hollywood Casino 400:

Chase Elliott captured his second win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway in the Hollywood Casino 400. Elliott had an overtime charge to the front from tenth to first, and he stole the win in turn four, coming to the checkered flag. The win will lock the Dawsonville, GA native into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and was his second at Kansas Speedway.

The race was great from start to finish. Kansas, as it has several times since the current generation car has come into existence in 2022, delivered exceptional racing from green flag to checkered flag. Denny Hamlin dominated the day, but the racing was still compelling with drivers able to move throughout the field. Additionally, there was a slightly differing strategy at times, thanks to a handful of timely cautions that put crew chiefs in opportunities to make 50/50 decisions. Moreover, the cautions allowed the field to bunch back up and restart at Kansas, with its multiple grooves, which are tense as drivers are jockeying for position and the opportunity to get into as clean air as possible. Although it led to what looked like Denny Hamlin, who, even though he had dominated the day, was struggling with power steering issues in place to capture the checkered flag, earn his 60th career Cup win, and punch his ticket to the Round of 8. However, an untimely caution and poor pit stop put the 11 car in a hole late in the race. The ensuing restarts gave us more action (and a Zane Smith flip) with multiple drivers in contention. The final restart was what classic NASCAR races are made of: multiple drivers, with their seasons on the line, not giving an inch and fighting hard for the win. At this point, I assumed we were headed for a Bubba Wallace win (yay) or a Christopher Bell win (meh). Yet, those two could not separate, and that pulled Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe into the mix, and coming off turn two on the last lap, it appeared that Hamlin had Wallace where he wanted him after Bell got schucked out of the way. That was until turn four: Hamlin went for it and missed, shoved up into Bubba, who smacked the wall. This allowed Chase Elliott the chance to pedal down, bump Hamlin out of the way, and charge to the checkered flag for his second win at Kansas and second win of the 2025 season.

Next up we have all three series in action at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. The Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the weekend Friday at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1 with the EcoSave 250. The Xfinity Series has their race on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. EST on The CW with the Blue Cross NC 250. The Cup Series headlines the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST on USA with the Bank of America ROVAL 400.

ROVAL Picks: Trucks = Connor Zilisch

Xfinity = Connor Zilisch

Cup = SVG