NASCAR: Chase Elliott dominates Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium

Chase Elliott received the unofficial opener to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Collection season.

Elliott began Sunday evening’s Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium on the pole and dominated the race. He drove away from Ryan Blaney over the past 20 laps as simply 12 of the 23 vehicles that began the primary occasion completed on the lead lap.

Blaney made a formidable drive up from beginning final however wasn’t in a position to make a cross on Elliott within the waning laps. Elliott led 171 of the race’s 200 laps, together with the primary 97 and the ultimate 75.

Denny Hamlin completed third and led 28 laps. Tyler Reddick led one lap. That is it. That is how good Elliott was.

The preseason exhibition race was held on the Winston-Salem quarter-mile monitor for the primary time on Sunday after three seasons at a brief brief monitor on the Los Angeles Coliseum. The monitor identified for its wrecks and fights produced a whole lot of crashes within the last-chance qualifier that preceded the primary occasion. The principle occasion itself was a lot calmer.

The 200-lap function had a midway break and featured six cautions for crashes. However the final crash got here on lap 120 as the remainder of the race ran caution-free and Elliott picked his method by way of lapped site visitors to maintain the lead and safe the win.

The Cup Collection season formally begins on Feb. 16 with the Daytona 500. Elliott, the 2020 Cup Collection champion, is without doubt one of the favorites to win. He hasn’t but received the Daytona 500.

1. Chase Elliott

2. Ryan Blaney

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Joey Logano

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Ross Chastain

7. Austin Cindric

8. Tyler Reddick

9. Shane van Gisbergen

10. Chris Buescher

11. Ryan Preece

12. Christopher Bell