Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race winner at Kansas Speedway, Chase Elliott, did not hold any grudge against runner-up Denny Hamlin for the last-lap contact the pair made.
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“Yeah, we did make contact off of (turn) four,” Elliott admitted during his post-race press conference. “We were pretty much door to door, the best I can remember.”
“I was coming on the bottom with a pretty good head of steam. I think he saw me coming, and he was just trying to cover my run. I think he was a little late to the party.”
Elliott then admitted that the contact was essentially inconsequential, as Elliott likely would still have won the race and Hamlin, who also had last-lap contact with Bubba Wallace, would still have finished second.
“It was no harm, no foul,” Elliott added. “I’m very confident (Hamlin) would tell you the same thing.”
Speaking of Hamlin’s contact with Wallace, Elliott demurred. After all, he still won the race.
“Honestly, probably not fair for me to comment. I was coming down the back, and yes, I was right behind them. Once I saw that they were fixing to ship it in there, my eyes went to where I needed to go, so I quit watching them.”
As a result, Elliott took his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet down to the inside and was able to sneak by while Hamlin and Wallace were preoccupied with each other.
“I knew I had to paint that white line really precisely — it’s a pretty small window,” Elliott said. “I don’t know how wide that white line is, but it’s not very big.”
Elliott Had to Focus Solely On What He Was Doing, Not What Wallace and Hamlin Were Doing
That’s when Elliott stopped worrying about what Wallace and Hamlin were doing and focused solely on what he needed to do to win the race, and that’s exactly what he did.
“I knew I had to get my lefts (left side tires) on it, so my eyes went there, and I have no idea what happened with them,” Elliott said.
With the win, Elliott earned an automatic berth into the Round of 8, and now doesn’t need to worry about how next Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval, the only road course in the 10-race playoff, will turn out for him.
