NASCAR: Daytona road course results, standings – Chase Elliott wins

Chase Elliott secured his eighth career win, his fourth career road course win and his second win of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season at the Daytona International Speedway road course.

Watkins Glen International, Daytona International Speedway road course — doesn’t matter. Chase Elliott is the winner of the Go Bowling 235 NASCAR Cup Series race, the 23rd race of the 2020 season.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver of the #9 Chevrolet has now won this event three years in a row, and he has now won each of the last three road course races, including last year’s races at Watkins Glen international and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Elliott won today’s inaugural race at the Daytona International Speedway road course, a late replacement for the annual race at Watkins Glen International due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions in the state of New York, after leading 34 of the 65 laps race around the 14-turn, 3.61-mile (5.810-kilometer) track in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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Elliott held off Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin by just 0.202 seconds to secure the victory ahead of the #11 Toyota. Elliott won stage one and Hamlin won stage two. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. overcame a pit road speeding penalty and finished in third in his #19 Toyota for the fifth consecutive race ahead of Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson in fourth in his #48 Chevrolet.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher had an impressive race and led all Ford drivers in fifth place in his #17 Ford. He finished ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer in sixth in his #14 Ford. Richard Childress Racing’s Kaz Grala, who was making his Cup Series debut as the replacement for Austin Dillon behind the wheel of the #3 Chevrolet after Dillon tested positive for COVID-19, finished in an impressive seventh.

While the race, which featured 13 lead changes among six drivers, was expected to be chaotic since nobody had any experience in a stock car at the track heading into the weekend and there was no practice time ahead of the race, there was only one caution flag period caused by an on-track incident, with that coming late due to a crash by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch.

The only other caution flag periods during the race were two stage break cautions and a caution for lightning in the third and final stage, which led to a red flag.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Go Bowling 235 at the Daytona International Speedway road course.

Race Results
1st – Chase Elliott
2nd – Denny Hamlin
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Jimmie Johnson
5th – Chris Buescher
6th – Clint Bowyer
7th – Kaz Grala
8th – William Byron
9th – Joey Logano
10th – Michael McDowell
11th – Erik Jones
12th – Alex Bowman
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Kurt Busch
15th – Matt DiBenedetto
16th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17th – Kevin Harvick
18th – Tyler Reddick
19th – Ryan Newman
20th – Ty Dillon
21st – Christopher Bell
22nd – Cole Custer
23rd – Ryan Preece
24th – Aric Almirola
25th – Bubba Wallace
26th – Matt Kenseth
27th – Daniel Suarez
28th – Brennan Poole
29th – Timmy Hill
30th – James Davison
31st – Ryan Blaney
32nd – Corey LaJoie
33rd – Quin Houff
34th – J.J Yeley/Bayley Currey
35th – John Hunter Nemechek
36th – Gray Gaulding
37th – Kyle Busch
38th – Stanton Barrett
39th – Brendan Gaughan

Here are the updated point standings following Elliott’s win.

NOTE: * = drivers who have clinched playoff berths via wins

Rank – Driver: Points (Behind), (Wins/Playoff Points OR +/- cut line)
1st* – Kevin Harvick: 939 (0), (6 WINS/35 PP)
2nd* – Denny Hamlin: 821 (-118), (5 WINS/30 PP)
3rd* – Brad Keselowski: 803 (-136), (3 WINS/21 PP)
4th* – Chase Elliott: 775 (-164), (2 WINS/16 PP)
5th* – Ryan Blaney: 755 (-184), (1 WIN/8 PP)
6th* – Joey Logano: 754 (-185), (2 WINS/14 PP)
7th* – Martin Truex Jr.: 753 (-186), (1 WIN/7 PP)
8th – Aric Almirola: 682 (-257), (+130)
9th – Kurt Busch: 673 (-266), (+121)
10th – Kyle Busch: 652 (-287), (+100)
11th – Clint Bowyer: 618 (-321), (+66)
12th* – Alex Bowman: 610 (-329), (1 WIN/9 PP)
13th – Matt DiBenedetto: 596 (-343), (+44)
14th – William Byron: 577 (-362), (+25)
————PLAYOFF CUT LINE————
15th – Jimmie Johnson: 552 (-387), (-25)
16th – Erik Jones: 542 (-397), (-35)
17th – Tyler Reddick: 520 (-419), (-57)
18th* – Austin Dillon: 501 (-438), (1 WIN/5 PP)
19th – Christopher Bell: 431 (-508), (-146)
20th* – Cole Custer: 413 (-526), (1 WIN/5 PP)
21st – Bubba Wallace: 412 (-527), (-165)
22nd – Michael McDowell: 403 (-536), (-174)
22nd – Chris Buescher: 403 (-536), (-174)
24th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 396 (-543), (-181)
25th – Ryan Newman: 356 (-583), (-221)
26th – John Hunter Nemechek: 343 (-596), (-234)
27th – Ty Dillon: 342 (-597), (-235)
28th – Matt Kenseth: 327 (-612), (-250)
29th – Corey LaJoie: 287 (-652), (-290)
30th – Ryan Preece: 269 (-670), (-308)
31st – Daniel Suarez: 248 (-691), (-329)
32nd – Brennan Poole: 163 (-776), (-414)
33rd – Quin Houff: 125 (-814), (-452)

The next NASCAR Cup Series race weekend on the schedule is a doubleheader weekend, with races scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23 at Dover International Speedway. These two races, both named the Drydene 311, are both set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.