NASCAR Dover 2017 results: Kyle Busch wins Delaware 400, plus full finishing order

Chase Elliott was on the cusp of a breakthrough first career Monster Energy Cup Series victory, then a charging Kyle Busch passed Elliott to win the Apache Warrior 400 Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

Busch erased Elliott’s four-second lead over the final laps, making the winning pass with two laps remaining. Elliott finished second after being bogged down in traffic and struggled passing slower cars on the tight one-mile track.

The win was Busch’s second straight and fourth on the season.

“The only thing Chase could have done differently was just move around and try and to get out of the wave of the cars that were in front of him,” Busch said. “I was actually surprised he didn’t.”

The 21-year-old Elliott equaled his best-career finish, a result he’s now accomplished five times in 70 premier division starts. Afterward, he placed blame on himself for giving away a victory seemingly within his reach.

“I’m just so disappointed in myself,” Elliott said. “Golly, I couldn’t have had it any easier. It ran green from the stage break all the way to the end. And, I gave it away.”

Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line in third, with pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth. Clint Bowyer finished sixth, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., rookie Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray, and Brad Keselowski.

Dover concluded the first round of the Cup Series playoffs where the 16-driver field is whittled by four every three races. Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne were the four drivers eliminated Sunday.

“We weren’t good enough, it’s as simple as that,” Newman said. “We just didn’t have what it took. You can’t run where we ran the last three races and expect to go out and win a championship.”

A frustrated Newman had a brief post-race confrontation with Jeff Gordon, Elliott’s predecessor as driver of the iconic No. 24 car who was sitting atop Elliott’s pit box.

Gordon, a four-time series champion who retired after the 2015 season, approached Newman on pit road and asked him why in the closing laps he slowed up Elliott, who was trying to maneuver around the slower Newman.

“What was happening with the leaders, man,” Gordon asked.

“You don’t think I was racing for my own position?” Newman responded.

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Gordon said

“Just watch what you say, man,” Newman said.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. used a timely caution to finish fourth in Stage 1 earning him seven points, then finished 19th overall to claim the final transfer position into the second playoff round. Those points proved the difference as he advanced by two points over Newman, who finished 13th.

Stenhouse joins Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Truex, Elliott, Larson, Keselowski, Johnson, and McMurray as those who remain title-eligible entering the Round 2 opener next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.