NASCAR at Road America live updates: Chase Elliott cruises home to a win in Wisconsin

The NASCAR Cup Series races today at Road America. The Jockey Made in America 250 race is at 2:30 p.m. on NBC.

The road course race near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is 250 miles (62 laps) with stages ending on laps 14, 29 and 62. All times are Eastern.

Follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Final stage

5:37 p.m., Lap 62: Game, set, match. Chase Elliott worked his way from the back to the front patiently. Didn’t lead either of the two early stages, but he led when it mattered. A big win for Elliott here at Road America, his second of the season and another win for the Hendrick stable. Chase Elliott your winner. Christopher Bell second, Kyle Busch third, Kurt Busch fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

5:33 pm., Lap 60: With just two to go, Elliott is well in the clear. No yellows = race is his. The fun is in the rest of the Top 5, with Bell sitting comfy in second. Kyle and Kurt Busch run 3-4, with Hamlin 5, and Briscoe in 6th.

5:28 p.m., Lap 58: Alex Bowman pits begrudgingly, perhaps knowing his teammate has a 6-second lead and would be affected if Bowman spun and forced a yellow. Latest Top 5: Elliott, Bell, Ky Busch, Hamlin, Ku Busch.

5:26 p.m., Lap 57: Alex Bowman makes a mistake, runs out of brakes, and spins his teammate, Kyle Larson. No yellow flag here, but Bowman has some bad rubbing at the rear, and Larson lost position relative to the lead. Bowman still technically runs fourth, but is limping. Larson fell all the way to 11th. Standing to gain most here? Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch, now in 5th and 6th.

5:24 p.m., Lap 57: Five to go! Chase Elliott is well in the clear out front, and barring mechanical issues with him, or a yellow to bunch the field, he’s running away. Kyle Busch is still hanging on to second, with Christopher Bell in third. Alex Bowman has made his way up to fourth, though, and is running well after earlier troubles.

5:13 p.m., Lap 52: Ten to go! Bell, Larson and Hamlin are dueling for 3-4-5, meanwhile Chase Elliott has opened up a 3.5-second lead on Kyle Busch, who is himself 3 seconds clear of that battled for 3-4-5. Longer run has benefited Christopher Bell.

Story continues

5:03 p.m., Lap 48: Elliott maintains his lead here and Kyle Busch is still on his bumper. Denny Hamlin, who has the most points in the field BY FAR without a win this season, is now lurking in third place. Kyle Larson, who leads the circuit in wins this season, is in fourth. Aric Almirola is fifth.

4:49 p.m., Lap 43: Caution is out for a spin by Anthony Alfredo after he lost a left rear tire. The field stacks up, and we will spin around the 4-plus miles at slower speeds. Ryan Blaney was in the pits getting an adjustment to his front end for minor damage, and he’s lucky not to lose a lap here.

4:35 p.m., Lap 38: Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch have slipped past Matt DiBenedetto into 1-2, with DiBenedetto still in third. Elliott was coming hard after DiBendetto there, and he’s put a decent gap between himself and Kyle Busch, who is trying to complete a weekend sweep after winning his 101st Xfinity race Saturday.

4:23 p.m., Lap 34: Matt DiBenedetto back to the front. Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe the rest of the Top 5. Just under 30 to go.

Stage 2

4:05 p.m., Lap 29: Tyler Reddick wins Stage 2 at Road America, opting to stay out to go for the stage win instead of pitting. He’s followed by William Byron, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Kyle Busch in the top-10.

3:56 p.m., Lap 26: Matt DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin, then Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. head to pit road before the end of the stage. Tyler Reddick stays out to inherit the lead, followed by William Byron. Corey LaJoie earlier spun off track after contact with Austin Cindric to bring up a bunch of dirt. Truex gets a speeding penalty while on pit road, and Kurt Busch spins off track, but saves it from a massive turn. Busch is told he’s racing Elliott and DiBenedetto.

3:45 p.m., Lap 20: Denny Hamlin goes off course in Turn 5 and has brake fade, meaning his brake ducts are clogged. But he gets going again and the team decides to leave him out on the course. Brad Keselowski also goes spinning off course around Turn 14, but he gets going again.

3:36 p.m., Lap 17: Austin Cindric takes the lead, outbreaking Martin Truex Jr. in Turn 1, after the restart. Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch move into the top-three, passing Truex.

3:33 p.m., Lap 15: Martin Truex Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric pitted earlier and will lead the field for the restart. Of those who pitted at the flag, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott come out first. Christopher Bell gets a penalty for driving through too many stalls. Cole Custer and Brad Keselowski get penalized for having a crew member over the wall too soon. They’ll all restart at the rear.

Stage 1

3:18 p.m., Lap 14: This stage will finish under caution after Kyle Tilley’s spin with only a few laps to go. William Byron wins the stage, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott in the top-10.

3:10 p.m., Lap 10: Ty Dillon spins and gets back on course, but shortly after, Kyle Tilley gets stuck in the gravel to bring out the caution flag. Some drivers, such as Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Martin Truex Jr., had just pitted, so this flag will be to their advantage. Michael McDowell and Chase Briscoe get a penalty for driving through too many pit stalls. Austin Dillon gets a speeding penalty, so they will restart at the rear. This stage will finish under caution.

3:04 p.m., Lap 8: Ryan Preece has gone to the garage with a mechanical issue and smoke coming from under his car. His No. 37 team says they “blew up.” Daniel Suárez, who earlier needed a push for a transmission issue, is still in the garage and six laps down.

3 p.m., Lap 6: Kyle Busch is up to 20th after starting last, while Chase Elliott has climbed to 16th. William Byron continues to lead, but Kyle Larson has dropped to third after dive bombing a corner going for the lead and overdriving it. He goes wide then falls in behind AJ Allmendinger, who moves up to second.

“The good news is we found the limit in Turn 5,” No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels says.

2:54 p.m., Lap 5: William Byron jumps to the lead after the restart. The caution came out on the second lap for Daniel Suárez, who was stalled on track with a transmission issue. He gets pushed back to the grid for his team to change the transmission out.

2:44 p.m., Lap 2: The race goes green and William Byron is able to hold his top spot with Kyle Larson in second. AJ Allmendinger is still in third but reporting that his helmet hose has broken, which will limit the air flowing into his helmet.

Pre-race

2:30 p.m.: Engines have been fired after a rousing performance of the national anthem in front of a large crowd at the track near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Road America has not released its attendance figures, but says it has hosted more than 100,000 people during the NASCAR weekend, according to Sports Business Journal.

Busch, Preece, Wallace among drivers dropping to the rear

1:20 p.m.: As expected, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece will be in backup cars and drop to the rear of the field for the start of today’s race, NASCAR confirms. Busch was already slated to start last and Preece was 32nd after qualifying. Justin Haley (22nd), Bubba Wallace (36th), Kyle Tilley (30th) and Josh Bilicki (27th) will also drop to the rear — Haley for an engine change, Wallace for a transmission issue/change and Tilley and Bilicki for unapproved adjustments.

NASCAR at Road America starting lineup

William Byron wins pole position after chaotic qualifying

William Byron wins the pole during what was a chaotic qualifying session for some teams. Byron posted the fastest speed at 110.359 miles per hour in the final, 10-minute qualifying round with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson coming in second with a speed of 110.205 miles per hour. They will start in the front row for today’s race. This is Byron’s sixth pole start in his Cup career.

Tyler Reddick finished fourth, and spun his car after passing the start/finish line attempting to post a fast lap, but the damage was not significant enough for the team to have to make repairs to the cars, according to FOX Sports. Road America Xfinity race winners A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Cindric also made up the top-five. They will start third and fifth, respectively.

During the opening 25-minute qualifying round, in which all teams were supposed to make a lap, two cautions came out to halt track activity. The first flag was for Kyle Tilley and the second was for Bubba Wallace, who stalled on the track with an apparent mechanical issue with around two minutes to go in the round.

A handful of drivers, including the Dillon brothers (Austin and Ty), Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not complete a lap at full speed before time expired. Elliott was on the track and attempted to make it to the line before time was up, but he was unable to do so and will start 34th.

“Just take it on the chin,” Elliott said on CNBC’s broadcast.

His No. 9 team is one of the favorites to win, but Elliott said he’s “still searching” for what he needs behind the wheel. The team made some changes to the car after yesterday’s practice in which Elliott finished 14th.

NASCAR did not allow Briscoe, who was 10th at practice, to attempt to finish his lap as it did with Elliott.

“I don’t get it,” Briscoe’s No. 14 radio said during the session. He later tweeted an angry face emoji. He will start 35th behind Elliott.

Wallace, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse and Ty Dillon will start 36th through 39th, respectively. Kyle Busch, who won Saturday’s Xfinity race at the track, will start last. He is driving a backup car following a spin during practice and didn’t make a qualifying lap at speed. Wallace and Josh Bilicki (27th) are also expected to drop to the rear for adjustments.

Pre-race

NASCAR’s top series is racing at Road America for the second time in 65 years. The last Cup race at 14-turn road course was August 12, 1956.

The Xfinity Series has raced annually at Road America since 2010, so a majority of the drivers in the lineup have experience at the track, including some who competed in Saturday’s Xfinity race. Kyle Busch won that race for his fourth victory in four races in the series this year and his 101st career Xfinity win.

Source