Winchester, IN — The beauty of the Winchester 400 is the variety and the endurance. Late model drivers from around the country descend towards eastern Indiana striving for victory. The reward is more than just a large purse; it’s the sense of pride that comes with knowing that you’ve beaten the best late model and stock car drivers in the country.

With that in mind, here’s how some notable drivers finished in Winchester.

  • While Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones won the Winchester 400 for the third straight year, fellow Gibbs driver Ross Kenseth missed the show entirely after a crash in qualifying Saturday.

Stuck in between was Hendrick Motorsports prospect Chase Elliott, whose third place finish was an stout result, but who felt emotionally after the race as if he never even competed.

“It’s third,” a frustrated Elliott said bluntly after the race. “It wasn’t good enough to get the job done and that’s the bottom line.”

Qualifying 10th after not practicing the car Friday, Elliott fell back as the race crossed the halfway mark and was lapped with over 100 laps to go. Regaining his lap, Elliott made up ground late but blamed himself for getting into a tough position that may have cost him a victory.

“I wasn’t driving it correctly,” a succinct Elliott said of his mid-race struggles. “Wore out my tires and got us in a bad spot.”

  • Representing the Midwest was ARCA/CRA Super Series champ Grant Quinlan, who wrapped up the series title when he took the green flag today. Consistently in the top five, the 16-year-old series champion ran an impressive, smooth, race in his first Winchester 400 with his lone blemish causing the 11th and final caution of the race.

“We came here to race and to contend for a win,” Quinlan said. “Looped it trying too hard on Coughlin there.

It’s tough. All the pit strategies and everything, there’s so many different ways to do it and everybody’s got a different agenda. It’s cool to see it all pan out at the end coming through with a top five finish.”

  • A regular at Winchester, Southern Super Series veteran Bubba Pollard overcame a lot of adversity to post a quiet top five. Surviving a number of cautions that came close to taking him out, Pollard said he didn’t have the best car but nonetheless was able to take advantage of attrition to move from outside the top 10 and into a fifth place finish despite numerous struggles.

“We struggled all day, we were tight,” Pollard said following the race. “Couldn’t ever get any track position. Track position was huge; we had a flat tire there at the end. We had about the fifth, sixth best car we just couldn’t show it.”

  • With 11 cautions on the day, a number of good cars found their way into the fence highlighted by Christopher Bell. Truck series driver Daniel Hemric along with third place qualifier Stephen Nasse and fourth place qualifier Dalton Armstrong highlighted eight of the top ten starters that didn’t finish on the lead lap. Just six drivers finished on the lead lap, while every driver from ninth place on found themselves six laps or more down due to a variety of problems caused by the Fastest Half Mile.