Chase Elliott Finally Wins Again, Honors Alan Kulwicki at Texas Motor Speedway

The first Chase Elliott win after his extended winless streak was always going to be an emotional one. The mixture of legacy, a Hooter's paint scheme, and overcoming demons turned Elliott's first Texas Motor Speedway victory on Sunday night into a classic for the driver.

This win means more to NASCAR fans than just free wings.

The last time a Hooter's car finished in victory lane was on June 14th, 1992. Ultimately, it was the late Alan Kulwicki's last win. The 'Polish King' was killed in an aviation crash the next summer following his championship.

Alan Kulwicki won the NASCAR Winston Cup by the smallest margin of victory in history over Bill Elliott. He did this by calculating in the car that he needed the extra five bonus points given at the time for the most laps led and pushed to lead 103 laps to Elliott's 102.

In 1992, Kulwicki was practicing math to calculate how to win; in 2024, Elliott was reflecting on history.

"It’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki," Elliott told NASCAR on Fox after climbing out of his Hooter's No. 9 Cheveloret, "Driving this car to a victory and being able to do a Polish victory lap. Really crazy how things came full circle there in that moment. It was pretty emotional to me; he beat Dad [Bill Elliott] back in the day, and here we are, sharing his sponsor. I couldn’t be more grateful for the journey."

Elliott withstood two overtimes to hold his win and ultimately perform a Kulwicki-inspired Polish Victory lap.

The 2020 champion went 42 races without stepping foot in victory lane, including the entirety of the 2023 season.

Last April, Elliott was sidelined for six races after breaking his leg while snowboarding. He was then suspended for one race after NASCAR sat him for intentionally spinning Denny Hamlin at World Wide Technology the year before.

Funny enough, an incident with Hamlin played into Elliott's win on Sunday. On the second to last restart, already over the track's alluded laps, Elliott took the lead from the outside row as a caution flag waved for Harrison Burton, the latest driver to get caught up in the 'Calmous Corner' that is Turn 2.

On the restart, Elliott started at the bottom with Hamlin to his outside. Once clear, Elliott pulled air off of Hamlin's nose, and the driver of the No. 11 car went spinning into his wall, becoming the third driver to crash from the second place position in Sunday's race.

"This place is so sketchy; I haven’t seen a reply of Denny and us," Elliott told Fox, "I didn’t feel like I did anything super crazy there, any more than anyone has ever done to me. Just had to run for it, I want to look at it. I didn’t feel like I did anything to crash him, just the circumstances. Nevertheless, apologies to him."

This was far from the end of the excitement in a caution-laded race. On what would be the final restart, Elliott chose the bottom again, this time with Ross Chastain to his outside and Brad Keselowski behind him. Worried about fuel since the race was going into double overtime, Elliott still got the lead off of the start while being careful not to go too early.

Historically Elliott has lost a lot of races on restarts, leading fans to hold their breath as one after another clicked off.

Elliott ran Chastain high and pulled away half a lap into the two-lap shootout. Chastain fell back and ultimately, after checking high, got into the front of Elliott's teammate William Byron after the white flag waved.

Chastain reported to the Infield Care Center and declined to comment upon exiting.

Initially the race was reported with Byron in second and Keselowski in third. In his post-race interview, Keselowski questioned his third-place finish and told Fox that he would be asking NASCAR to take a second look at when the caution was thrown. He was ultimately correct and is now scored in second, Byron in third.

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