Chase Elliott’s pit crew was ranked the second-best in the NASCAR Cup Series coming into Sunday’s race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. So the uncharacteristic loose tire on pit road during a service stop was definitely an aberration for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro.
Advertisement
The stop-and-go penalty the mistake attracted seriously dented his playoff chances. Till then, Elliott was well on course for a potential top-five finish, if not a win, possibly even beating Denny Hamlin.
However, the strong start to the weekend the Hendrick Motorsports driver enjoyed by qualifying fourth ended in a disappointing 18th-place finish. Even worse, Elliott left Las Vegas sixth in the point standings, 23 points below the cutoff line to advance to the Championship For, the title-deciding race three weeks from now in Phoenix.
The blame for the mistake rested solely with Elliott‘s crew, which, during a Stage 2 pit stop, mistakenly allowed the errant tire to wind up in an adjacent pit stall, which was against NASCAR’s rules. To serve the penalty, his car was assessed, Elliott was forced to circle the 1.5-mile track, and return to the pit lane.
“I thought it was going pretty good for a little while at least. [I] started the day strong. Thought we had our balance in a really good spot. I was kind of happy about the way it was driving, everything, Elliott said in a pit road interview.
“Unfortunately, we had a penalty on pit road. Just got back in traffic. I needed something pretty different, balance-wise, to be good back there. I probably missed a little bit on my first read. We only had a couple [of] shots to try and help that. I got behind on adjustments for the track position. Couple [of] bad decisions on that last restart. Unfortunately, yeah, got us a bad result,” he added.
Next up, the always tricky Talladega
Elliott now must have a significant rebound next Sunday at Talladega, arguably the most wild-card track in the playoffs. He could be leading the entire race, only for a multi-car wreck on the final lap to take him out.
That would leave him in a must-win situation at Martinsville in the final race of the Round of Eight if the 2020 Cup champion hopes to keep his shot at a second career crown. Elliott seems resigned to his fate at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, the largest oval on the Cup circuit.
“It is what it is,” Elliott said. “Everybody’s got to go [to ‘Dega]. So you better learn to like it real quick because it will be here soon.”
Elliott concluded his interview with a very poignant statement: “Try again next week.”
