Chase Elliott holds off Kyle Busch for Truck Series win, earns $100K for charity
Chase Elliott got the best of Kyle Busch on Tuesday night.
Elliott kept Busch at bay over the final 20 laps of the Truck Series race to win a $100,000 donation to charity from Kevin Harvick and Camping World’s Marcus Lemonis. Busch got within about a quarter second of Elliott with 10 laps to go but couldn’t get any closer as the laps ticked down as he searched for a little bit more speed to get past Elliott.
Busch and Elliott have had quite the eventful week. Busch turned Elliott on May 20 as the two were racing for second place with less than 30 laps to go in the Cup Series race at Darlington. Elliott got out of his car and showed Busch a middle finger in displeasure after the crash and Busch had a post-race chat with Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson.
Busch immediately admitted that he screwed up in turning Elliott into the wall and Elliott said Friday that he knew Busch hadn’t crashed him on purpose.
After winning Tuesday night, Elliott had some fun with the kerfuffle. He did Busch’s customary post-win bow when he grabbed the checkered flag.
CHASE DID THE BOW#NASCAR #NCEL200 pic.twitter.com/h0xcyaVwVA
— Steve Luvender (@steveluvender) May 27, 2020
Elliott took the lead with 24 laps to go as Busch was having to slice and dice his way back through the field. Busch had the lead when a caution came out with less than 40 laps to go but had not made his final pit stop of the night. As Busch peeled off the track to get his last set of fresh tires, most everyone on track had already made their last stops. He restarted 23rd after the stop but quickly made his way into the top five.
Harvick’s bounty inspired Elliott’s entry
Tuesday night was the first Truck Series race since February because of the coronavirus pandemic. After Busch won at Las Vegas on Feb. 21, Harvick offered up $50,000 to a Cup Series driver who could beat Busch in any of the remaining four Truck Series races he had on his schedule. Then Lemonis, the CEO of Truck Series sponsor Camping World and Gander Outdoors, said he would match the offer.
Tuesday morning, Harvick confirmed that the bounty was still in place after the Truck Series’ three-month hiatus. But he said that the money would be going to those impacted by the pandemic and not to the driver who could beat Busch.
Elliott lost a win on Sunday night
Busch won Monday night’s Xfinity Series race. Elliott could have won Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600.
Elliott was leading with two laps to go when his teammate William Byron caused a caution. Elliott, who had a two-second lead over Brad Keselowski, pitted for four fresh tires during the caution. Eight cars stayed out on track ahead of him and Elliott ended up restarting 11th for the final two laps of green-flag racing.
He made it up to third before the checkered flag but didn’t come close to catching race-winner Keselowski. Elliott was officially credited with a second-place finish after the race because Jimmie Johnson’s car failed post-race inspection.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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