Elliott recovers from shunt to take victory in Charlotte

Chase Elliott recovered from an off at Turn 1 to win an incident-filled NASCAR playoff race punctuated by a red flag period at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

On the Roval course, Alex Bowman came home second to clinch the last Round of 12 spot while Kevin Harvick completed the top three.

Elliott led the field away for the race’s fifth restart on Lap 65 before misjudging his breaking point into Turn 1 and going into the barrier, escaping with minor damage.

He then muscled his way through the field, benefitting from a handful of Caution periods to return to the front of the race.

A Lap 99 accident involving Kurt Busch, Chris Buescher and Ryan Newman drew a brief red flag period.

When the race restarted with six laps to go Elliott promptly passed Martin Truex Jnr for second at Turn 3 before taking the lead off Harvick at the final chicane.

Bowman also found a way past Harvick on the following lap to lock in a one-two finish for Hendrick Motorsports after 109 laps.

The series heads to Dover International Speedway for the first of three Round of 12 events on October 4-6 (local time).

Round of 12 qualifiers

Race highlights