Chase Elliott reacts to final restart at Kansas, last lap pass for win: 'I wasn't going to lift'

No one, not even Chase Elliott, saw that win coming when the final restart began. From P8 to P1 in two laps at Kansas. Today was dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota as a whole. But it was Hendrick Motorsports and Chevy who won out in the end.

Chase Elliott has advanced to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs. A last-lap pass for the win was all it took, in double overtime no less. Talk about dramatics.

After the win, Elliott talked about what went down as he celebrated on the frontstretch. It was clearly a surprise win for the driver himself.

“I don’t know, man. Just everything worked out perfect for me. Had a great push through one and two, that kind of all started with the 6 [Brad Keselowski],” Chase Elliott explained. “Yeah, big run off of two, seas kinda parted, and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really, that was really it. Obviously, we still had pretty good tires compared to those guys. What a crazy finish, hope you all enjoyed that, I certainly did.

“Yeah, just real proud of our team, had a really solid weekend. Win or no win. Really nice to qualify really well. We’ll certainly enjoy this, man. This is pretty cool, you know. Just never take this stuff for granted because they’re hard to come by. Learned that the hard way. So, always enjoy it, always appreciate it. Thanks to everybody at KBB. What a great partner, been on board for, this is our 10th year together which is pretty cool. … Glad to be bringing one home.”

When asked about the last lap in particular, Elliot was clear – he wasn’t going to lift. It was going to be a win or a wreck with Denny Hamlin. No in between.

“I wasn’t going to lift. So, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point, we were both wide-open, corner exit,” Chase Elliott continued. “So, wherever I ended up, I ended up at that point we were all committed. It was really cool to restart 10th and somehow win it on a Green-White-Checkered is pretty neat.”

This is a major win for Chase Elliott. It completely changes the outlook of the NASCAR Playoffs moving forward. A Bubba Wallace win would have flipped the cutline on its head. Now, the cutline remains more or less the same.

So, this now sets us up for the Roval. When we are in this same place a week from now, we will know the next four drivers who will be eliminated from the Playoffs and the eight who will move on to the next round.