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Driving the #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott won the fifth playoff race of the 2022 season at the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. The 26-year-old secured his fifth win of the season after beating Ryan Blaney in the closing laps of the 500-mile-long race.
This victory locks Elliott into the Round of 8 and he becomes the first playoff driver to win a race in the 2022 playoffs. Earlier, the first four races were won by non-playoff drivers in a chaotic start to the post-season.
Chase Elliott emerged victorious when he made his move from the bottom lane to the top lane with two laps to go and got a massive push from behind by Erik Jones on the final lap. The momentum was enough to hold off race leader Blaney to the finish line with skillful drives to take his record fifth win of the season.
In a fanatic-finish at Talladega Superspeedway, Elliott crossed the finish line 0.046 seconds ahead of fellow competitor Blaney to grab the checkered flag.
The win marked the second Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway and the overall 18th Cup victory for Elliott.
On Twitter, NASCAR congratulated Chase Elliott on winning the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
See the Tweet below:
The YellaWood 500 saw 57 lead changes among 17 different drivers. The venue hosted its 54th Cup race and the new Next Gen cars for the second time. The 2.66-mile-long Superspeedway also witnessed six caution flags.
Chase Elliott talks about his YellaWood 500 win
Sunday’s win was amazing for Chase Elliott and #9 Hendrick Motorsports team as they locked themselves in for the next round of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. With the win, Elliott gained 58 points and moved top in the latest release of the Cup Series points table.
During a post-race interview, speaking about the last-lap heroics at Talladega Superspeedway, Elliott said:
“It was a wild last couple laps. I wasn’t super crazy about being on the bottom and fortunately I got just clear enough off of [Turn] 2 to slide up in front of Erik [Jones] and he gave me some great shoves, obviously a Team Chevy partner there. Just had a good enough run to get out front and then was able to stay far enough in front of Ryan [Blaney] at the line to get it done.”
Catch Chase Elliott next for the 2022 Bank of America Roval 400, the sixth playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 9, 2022.
