3 winners and 2 losers after NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series playoff race at Dover

The first round of the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs concluded with a familiar face celebrating Sunday at Dover International Speedway. For the second week in a row, it was Kyle Busch taking his customary bow holding the checkered flag, this time following an impressive late-race charge in which he steadily erased Chase Elliott’s four-second lead then completed the winning pass with two laps remaining.

Winner: Kyle Busch

Back-to-back playoff wins and a full steam of momentum is a nice way to enter the second round. And though momentum can be overstated and often doesn’t positively or negatively impact one’s performance, it’s hard not to think Busch has to feel good about his hopes of winning a second championship within three years.

Of course, Martin Truex was in a similar position a year ago after he won twice in Round 1, only to then flameout in the next bracket due to underperformance and a lack of execution. But with the format changing and drivers who excelled throughout the regular season now having a cushion to guard against a bad race or two, brings Busch added security.

Busch has amassed the second-most bonus points, trailing only Truex, whose No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team happens to be the only outfit consistently able to keep pace with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Which means when you take into account his points tally combined with the speed he shows weekly, Busch should breeze past the second round — and perhaps even the championship finale Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Loser: Chase Elliott

Few if any drivers are harder on themselves than Elliott, almost to a fault some contend. On Sunday, the second-year Hendrick Motorsports driver was especially frustrated with himself after Busch passed him for the lead with two laps remaining.

Over the second half, Elliott emerged with the dominant car leading 137 of a possible 153 laps and appearing well on his way to scoring his first Cup win. Yet two of the laps he didn’t lead were the final two with Busch motoring around Elliott entering Turn 1 on the penultimate circuit then keeping him at bay; a stinging defeat that had the 21-year-old doing some self-reflecting.

Afterward, Elliott was visually upset, according to multiple reports, spending a few extra moments gathering himself before exiting the No. 24 car. He then engaged in long discussion with teammate Jimmie Johnson over the chain of events that culminated with him notching his fifth runner-up in 70 series starts.

Elliott blamed himself for not doing a better job of fending off Busch, who had used the high groove to catch Elliott, who preferred the bottom lane. Had he moved up the track earlier he stood a chance of stemming Busch’s charge — or at least force the 2015 series champ to adjust himself.

“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.”

Busch also thought Elliott should’ve changed his line around the one-mile track. But his comments weren’t condescending — merely a veteran observing that a younger counterpart still had some learning to do before he can beat one of NASCAR’s very best.

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

“When you are Chase and you have been leading for that long and you’ve lost that amount of distance to the car behind you, you’ve got to move around. You can’t give up four seconds of the lead and not do something else. I feel like that’s kind of where they lost it today. I don’t know if he was getting communication from his spotter or his crew chief or somebody just saying, stick to the bottom, stick with what has got you to this point, but that was obviously bad advice.”

Winner: Hendrick Motorsports

Although it may be a one-week anomaly, Elliott’s second- and Johnson’s third-place efforts give indication that Hendrick could again be peaking at the right time of the year — similar to how Johnson in 2016 put behind him a down regular season to capture a record-tying seventh championship, even though JGR and Team Penske were noticeably better on a week-to-week basis.

Hendrick still needs to demonstrate he can push the Toyotas of Busch and Truex on any style, particularly intermediate speedways of which four remain. But the remaining schedule sets up incredibly well for Johnson, with three of his four best tracks all upcoming — Martinsville Speedway (seven wins), Charlotte Motor Speedway (eight) and Texas Motor Speedway (seven). A win at Charlotte in Round 2 then a win at either Charlotte or Texas in Round 3, and suddenly Johnson is racing for an eighth title at Homestead.

“As we look back over the summer, it just seems like tracks with more banking, our combination works well, and we were able to exploit that this weekend,” Johnson said. “Charlotte is a great track for us, as well, and typically when we run well at Dover, it carries over to Charlotte. And we’re optimistic about next week, too.”

Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. That’s what Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was Sunday when a fortuitous caution vaulted him the running order and placed him in a position where he picked some incredibly valuable points.

Stenhouse was in the midst of a mediocre afternoon facing playoff elimination when Jeffrey Earnhardt crashed during a sequence of green-flag pit stops. Because Stenhouse was one of five drivers who hadn’t stopped, he suddenly found himself up front.

When the race resumed, Stenhouse was able to maintain his newfound track position and finished Stage 1 in fourth, giving him seven additional points. Those points proved crucial as the Roush Fenway Racing driver ended up advancing by a scant two points over Ryan Newman.

“The feeling is lucky,” Stenhouse said. “We caught the caution there right at the right time with a perfect amount of laps left in the stage to get stage points and that was the turning point of the day.”

Loser: Richard Childress Racing

It was always considered a longshot Richard Childress Racing would transfer both its drivers, Newman and Austin Dillon, to the second round. The team has lacked for speed much of the season, and for Newman and Dillon to each move forward would require unusual circumstances and for others to experience bad luck. Which didn’t transpire on Sunday, as Newman finished an ordinary 13th while Dillon labored to 16th.

“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.”