Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates Chase Elliott’s first win since 2022 at Texas

One of NASCAR’s greats has chimed in following a thrilling Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 on Sunday afternoon, wishing winner Chase Elliott well after his first win since 2022.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took a minute to hit the Twittersphere with his congratulations.

“I’m happy to see [Chase Elliott] back in the winner circle,” Earnhardt tweeted, complete with a thumbs up emoji.

The win was Elliott’s 19th in the NASCAR Cup Series, but it was his first-ever win at Texas. It was a huge result, as it resulted in 45 points and the all-important victory for Elliott, who led 39 laps in the race.

Going into the day, Elliott was sixth in the Cup Series standings, 51 points behind leader Kyle Larson. He had recorded two top-five finishes and three top-10s already this season, but the win had proven elusive.

Chase Elliott also had one stage win and had led for 87 laps prior to Sunday’s result at the Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR clarifies order of finish

While Chase Elliott closed comfortably with the win in the final stretch after a couple of caution flags came out in the final few laps, the finish behind him wasn’t quite as clear.

When the race ended, initially William Byron was listed as P2, while Brad Keselowski was P3. Keselowski was not happy about that after exiting his car.

“Well I’m not sure we finished third,” Keselowski said in a post-race interview on FOX. “I’ve got to see the replay from NASCAR on that first before I’m going to concede that.”

Sure enough, after a review of the footage from the finish, NASCAR reversed course and clarified that Keselowski was indeed P2, while Byron was P3. Keselowski earned 40 Cup Series points as a result.

While Keselowski never did manage to lead a lap in the race, he also didn’t fall victim to the trap many other drivers did. There were four second-place wrecks on the afternoon, and Keselowski managed to avoid one himself to finish one spot out of first.