By: Mitchell Breuer

Chase Elliott finally did it.

After two consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races where wins slipped away through his gloves, the driver of the No. 9 finally pulled into victory lane Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

So, how did he do it?

After restarting fifth with 59 laps to go, Elliott navigated his way through the field and with 28 laps to go, passed then-leader Kevin Harvick. Harvick, who restarted as the leader was not able to just pull away as we saw during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600; it is worth noting though that after losing the lead, he lost multiple spots during the run. Whether it was something wrong with Harvick, or Elliott just having a better car, it was refreshing to see a pass for the lead well into a green flag run.

It is not to say that we did not see a lot of what was seen Sunday in terms of playing the strategy game to gain track position and take advantage of clean air. Both Joey Logano in stage one and, Alex Bowman in stage two, stayed out while others pitted, got the lead, and took full advantage of the clean air to win their respective stages.

Something else that carried over from previous races? The weather, as shortly after the green flag was waved the field was brought back down pit road for an extended red flag due to lightning and rain in the area.

Despite this, the race did not feel like it dragged on, and with its shorter length the aggression picked up, especially from one driver.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr seemed to be the highlight machine when it came to the race, making three and four wide moves throughout the 300-mile affair. The driver of the No. 47, known for his aggressiveness and how it usually ends poorly for him (see Darlington), actually saw his style work as he came away with a fourth-place finish, his second top-five with JTG-Daugherty Racing.

His style did hinder others though, as during one of his attempts to go four-wide early in the race hurt Kyle Busch, who suffered significant damage during the move forcinghim to pit under green and lose two laps. The driver of the No. 18 ended up finishing 29th.

Denny Hamlin despite losing his crew chief, car chief, and lead engineer due to the ballast incident Sunday, came home in second place. While it was not the most successful day for the No. 11 team, his quiet effort as he slowly moved through the field was a solid showing for a group that, without practice or qualifying, had no time to work together. Hamlin’s most impressive showing came during the final 20 laps, as he gained three track positions.