By Mike Finney

DOVER — Consistency is always a nice attribute to have as a NASCAR Cup Series driver, but winning races is ultimately what racing is all about.

Chase Elliott snapped a 26-race winless drought and returned to victory lane by sheer survival to capture a wild rain-delayed Duramax Drydene 400 Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway on Monday afternoon.

Fan favorite Elliott, son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, entered race weekend at Dover in first place in the series points standings, but something was missing — a win.

That all changed as he tip-toed his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet through 11 fender-crunching caution periods that took up 69 laps — along with some late-race good fortune — to earn his second win at Dover’s challenging one-mile concrete oval.

“Like I told (my pit crew) after the race, those guys, they’ve been deserving of one for a while,” Elliott said. “I’m glad we could get across the line first. Just a huge thanks to everybody involved. It’s been a fun day and we’re going to enjoy it.”

It appeared as if good fortune was set to shine on Kyle Busch as he celebrated his 37th birthday at Dover on Monday.

However, his potentially happy day was soured when he entered the pits as the leader on lap 323 with a .520-second lead over defending Dover winner Alex Bowman.

As Busch was getting his car serviced, a tire came off A.J. Allmendinger’s car in the second turn and brought out a caution, dropping Busch all the way back to 20th place.

Busch rallied over the final laps to finish in seventh place. However, he had been 2-for-2 on races on his birthday, winning at Richmond in 2009 and Kansas in 2021.

In the end, some good fortune finally shined on Elliott, who earned his 14th victory in 232 Cup Series races and second on the steep banks of Dover.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rallied for a second-place finish — 2.577 seconds behind Elliott — and was followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Bowman.

For Stenhouse, it was his fourth top-10 finish in 19 races at Dover and his second top-10 finish in 2022.

“Man, it’s been a rough start to the season,” said Stenhouse, driver of the No. 47 Kroger/Frozen Farmer Chevy. “Our short track program has been off. All our other good races that we’ve had good runs going, something has always happened.

“I felt like we had a car capable of winning. That was a lot of fun. A lot of battling. It was tough to pass, but it was fun running through lapped traffic. I really wish we had like a 70-lap run to end there.”

The surging Chastain, coming off a win last week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, was near the front all race long and wound up third.

Martin Truex Jr., a three-time winner at Dover, had a post-race discussion with Chastain after the two tangled while battling for third on the final lap, sending Truex spinning down the backstretch and into the inside wall.

An unhappy Truex finished 12th, prompting the pit-lane encounter.

“We were talking about where we were going to go fishing next week,” Chastain said, with a laugh. “I’m super proud of this effort. I thought we were a fifth-place car.

“A couple of guys had misfortune with the cautions coming out. That cycled us to the lead, but I’m racing with champions, and I got beat.”

A total of 10 different drivers swapped the lead 17 times over the course of the two-day event.

Busch led twice for a race-high 103 laps, while Chastain led four times for 86 laps and race winner Elliott was at the front three times for 73 laps.

The race’s final 53 laps were run caution-free, which allowed Elliott to pull away to a more than two-second lead.

“I just had a good turn of events, finally,” Elliott said. “I really appreciate (my crew chief) Alan Gustafson and our entire team for just sticking with it.

“We’ve had some tough races over the last four or five months and it’s great to get back to victory lane, it’s great to get NAPA Auto Parts and Hendrick Motorsports back to victory lane. I’m just so proud.”

Elliott also tipped his hat to all the race fans who returned to Dover Motor Speedway for the rain-delayed event.

“(Sunday) was the most fans I can remember ever seeing here since I’ve been coming to Dover. It was incredible. They were awesome,” said Elliott, who also won at Dover in 2018 and scored his first win on an oval in 46 starts. “I’m just so proud. This one means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort.

“I hope to see this big crowd here again next year. Just a huge thanks to everybody involved. It’s been a fun day and we’re certainly going to enjoy it.”

Kyle Larson took over right where he left off when the rain began to fall on Sunday — at the front of the field when the green flag waved on Monday on lap 84.

It didn’t take long for the action to pick up as Austin Cindric spun entering the third turn and made contact with the wall just three laps later.

That became the theme of the day, and the name of the game quickly became survival.

And this time, for a change, Elliott emerged victorious.

Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org. Follow @MikeFinneyDSN on Twitter.