By Cameron Bebeau, Staff Writer
Brandon Jones held off a charging Chase Elliott on the final overtime restart to win Saturday’s Cuervo 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.
The race was delayed more than three hours by rain, continuing a weather-disrupted weekend as NASCAR returned to Joliet for the first time in seven years.
After multiple late cautions, Jones and Elliott lined up on the front row for a three-lap run to the finish. Elliott stayed within reach over the closing laps, ripping the top of turns 1 and 2 on the final lap before diving low entering Turn 3.
Elliott’s run stalled before he could truly get alongside Jones, allowing Jones to clear the final corner and take the win.
“It’s been an up-and-down year,” Jones said after climbing from his car. “We had some success early on. We’ve been in a little rut the last couple weeks, so it’s just nice to do it like we did today. We had to earn that one.”
Elliott controlled much of the night, leading a race-high 78 laps, but Jones capitalized on the restart that decided it. After leading just 12 laps all night, Jones led the final two when the race reached overtime.
Jesse Love finished third, Brent Crews fourth, and Austin Hill fifth. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer and Connor Zilisch completed the top 10.
The finish capped off a race that grew increasingly chaotic after Stage 2. The Cuervo 300 featured 16 lead changes among six drivers and seven cautions for 40 laps, with five of those cautions coming in the final stage.
Connor Zillisch controlled the opening stage from the pole, leading the first 48 laps of the race, winning Stage 1 along the way before trouble unraveled his night. A fuel pump issue sent Zilisch to the rear, forcing the No. 1 team to spend the rest of the race trying to recover the lost track position.
Zillisch’s night became even more eventful in the final stage. A debris caution came out after he lost a tire carcass on Lap 133, and he later spun in Turn 2 on Lap 156. Zilisch made 75 green-flag passes, second-most in the field behind Allgaier, and salvaged a top-10 finish from a race that repeatedly pushed him backward.
Zilisch was not the only contender whose finish failed to match the strength of his car. Gray led 55 laps, including a 31-lap stretch during the middle portion of the race and a 19-lap run late, but finished seventh after losing ground during the final restart sequence.
Love finished third after one of the cleanest nights in the field. He briefly led three different times for five total laps and never ran outside the top 15, keeping himself in position while several other contenders dealt with trouble.
The final stretch itself began to unravel after Zilisch’s spin. William Sawalich spun on the backstretch on Lap 165 after contact from Crews, while Ryan Sieg later brought out another caution after a tire issue in Turn 2.
With 11 laps remaining, the leaders fanned out four-wide entering Turn 1, with Love prevailing. The final caution came out with Kyle Sieg and Patrick Staropoli crashing in Turn 4, with Alpha Prime teammates Brennan Poole and Lavar Scott also receiving damage.
That set up the final restart between Jones and Elliott. Elliott had led the most laps and spent much of the night in control, but Jones put himself in position for the only restart that mattered.
After a long delay, several late incidents and an overtime finish, Chicagoland delivered the kind of race NASCAR has been missing during the track’s seven-year absence.