NASCAR at Road America results: Chase Elliott earns seventh career road course victory

If there’s anything more inevitable than a Hendrick Motorsports driver winning this season, it’s Chase Elliott dominating on a road course.

The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet easily took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 presented by KwikTrip at Road America, the fifth road race of the season. He previously won at Circuit of the Americas in a rain-shortened race and finished second at Sonoma and Daytona. Sunday’s win is the seventh road course victory of his career, good for third-most all time.

Sunday’s race was an action-packed affair, with drivers often taking turns too fast and ending up in grass, sand or gravel. Despite this, there were only five cautions on the day: NASCAR for the most part allowed drivers the opportunity to avoid errant cars on the course.

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Following Sunday’s race, only six races remain in NASCAR’s regular season for non-winners to secure a playoff berth. If Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates have anything to say about that, it’s possible there won’t be another new winner in 2021.

Sporting News tracked updates and lap-by-lap highlights from NASCAR’s race at Road America on Sunday. Check out the 62-lap, 250-mile Jockey Made in America 250:

NASCAR at Road America live updates, highlights

All times Eastern

5:35 p.m.: And there it is! Elliott wins the Jockey Made in America 250, his second victory of the season after winning at Circuit of the Americas (which was called mid-race due to rain). Your unofficial full top 10:

1. Chase Elliott
2. Christopher Bell
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kurt Bursch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Ross Chastain
8. Tyler Reddick
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Matt DiBenedetto

5:33 p.m.: Last lap. Elliott should be your winner barring a Kyle Larson-esque tire blowout.

5:32 p.m.: Briscoe has to slow to take the turn (it’s still wide) but the race continues. Only two laps remaining. Assuming there’s no more caution, this should be Elliott’s victory.

5:25 p.m.: Hamlin has moved into the top four, roughly 14 seconds off the lead. He’s first in the playoff standings but hasn’t had a single win this season.

5:22 p.m.: Larson tries to slow down on the turn but is hit from behind and spun out by Alex Bowman — the field avoids him on the track and the race continues. Larson falls a few positions to No. 10 with six laps remaining. Bowman, by the way, seems to have sustained some rear damage as well.

5:16 p.m.: Elliott is your leader with fewer than 10 laps to go.

4:50 p.m.: Give this social media manager a raise.

4:49 p.m.: Caution 5 (Lap 44). Anthony Alfredo spins out into the gravel with fewer than 20 laps remaining in the race:

4:37 p.m.: Elliott’s the leader now. Lots of lead changes at Road America today.

4:26 p.m.: And there’s DiBenedetto out in front!

4:04 p.m.: Caution 4 (Lap 30). Reddick wins the stage, just the second of his career.

1. Tyler Reddick
2. William byron
3. Ross Chastain
4. Kyle Larson
5. Kurt Busch
6. Joey Logano
7. Kevin Harviclk
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Justin Haley
10. KyleBusch

4:01 p.m.: Kurt Busch takes the turn too fast and is into the grass. Apart from some grass in his grill and dropping a spot, no issues for him. Only two laps remain in the second stage.

3:55 p.m.: Corey LaJoie’s the latest driver with issues on the track: He spins out into the grass after contact with Austin Dillon. LaJoie took the turn too wide and initiated the contact trying to get back on the track, making him spin out. He had to wait for cars to pass to get back on, but didn’t bring up a caution. (He did drag some turf onto the track, however).

3:50 p.m.: More spinouts, more mechanical issues. This one’s from Cindric.

3:52 p.m.: Oh hey, there’s Brad Keselowski too.

3:50 p.m.: Denny Hamlin’s trip to the sand surprisingly didn’t result in a caution.

3:43 p.m.: And now DiBenedetto:

3:34 p.m.: There’s the restart on Lap 17. Austin Cindric, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace make up your top five.

3:18 p.m.: Sure enough, that’s the end of the stage. William Byron wins under caution. Your full top 10:

1. William Byron
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Kyle Larson
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Ross Chastain
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Christopher Bell
8. Alex Bowman
9. Kurt Busch
10. Chase Elliott

3:15 p.m.: While there’s a pause in the action … check out this bumper camera from the Road America track:

3:14 p.m.: Uh-oh. Austin Dillon is caught for speeding on pit row. He’ll restart from the rear.

3:11 p.m.: Caution 2 (Lap 12). Kyle Tilley took is stuck in the gravel pit after taking the turn way too fast. That could be a recurring theme today. There’s only three laps remaining in the stage, so NASCAR could decide to end the stage here.

3:05 p.m.: Kyle Larson with a nice pass that was way, way too fast:

3:02 p.m.: And now Ryan Preece is having issues. The No. 37 is heading to the garage with a reported blown engine. Preece entered Sunday’s race ranked 23rd and 189 points from the playoff cutoff.

2:54 p.m.: There’s the restart on Lap 5, with Byron and Larson taking the early lead.

2:49 p.m.: Caution 1 (Lap 3). Well, shoot. Daniel Suarez’s car has stalled with a transmission issue heading into Turn 6. He entered today’s race in 18th place and 42 points below the cutoff. Looks like his team is trying to get him back out there.

2:44 p.m.: There they go!

NASCAR start time today

• Race: Jockey Made in America 250 presented by KwikTrip
• Date: Sunday, July 4
• Time: 2:40 p.m. ET (TV time)

The green flag on Sunday’s race will drop at roughly 2:49 p.m. ET.

NASCAR starting lineup at Road America

NASCAR used two rounds of qualifying to set the starting lineup for Sunday’s race at Road America, the Jockey Made in America 250 presented by KwikTrip. The fastest 12 cars in Round 1 advanced to Round 2. Forty cars were entered for the race.

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