Chase Elliott's victory at the Monster Mile as a birthday present to his dad

Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) wins the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway, the first of three races of the Round of 12 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. With his second Cup Series victory in a career, the driver of the #9 Chevrolet Camaro secured a spot in the Round of 8 but also gives the best possible birthday present to his father Bill Elliott, who is celebrating the 63rd birthday today (October 8).

Elliott has won the race in the overtime at the Monster Mile ahead of Denny Hamlin in Joe Gibbs Racing’s #11 Toyota Camry. The move that won the race was crew chief Alan Gustafson’s decision to keep Elliott on the track with old tires when most of the other lead-lap cars opted to pit on Lap 393 after Clint Bowyer crashed his Ford into the Turn 4 wall one lap earlier.

Chase Elliott celebrates his second Cup Series win in a career

Elliott led the field to a restart on Lap 397, but a big accident followed when Aric Almirola hit the outside wall and started a chain-reaction collision. The race was red-flagged and after the last restart, Elliott outran Hamlin in an overtime.

Kevin Harvick led the race-high 286 laps and swept the first two stages in Stewart-Haas Racing’s #4 Ford but finished sixth, behind Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Kurt Busch.

Harvick leaves Dover with a five-point lead over Kyle Busch. The next race is Talladega 500 on October 14.