The race at Watkins Glen International was seen as the best chance for Chase Elliott to win and secure a spot in the playoffs. Despite making progress early on, luck ran out for Elliott halfway through the race. After a misjudgment, he ran out of gas and his race came to a screeching halt.
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Following the disastrous race, the Vice Chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon spoke about the matter and explained what went wrong in such a severe miscalculation during a race that Elliott desperately needed to win.
Jeff Gordon talks about Chase Elliott running out of fuel mid-race
Gordon spoke at the press conference after the conclusion of the final road course race of the regular season. During this interaction, he stated, “Clearly miscalculation with the 9 car, and that was huge.”
“He was stretching… He came in a little bit short the first stop, and so they were trying to stretch it to get closer on the strategy of the others. You always want to pad yourself here just in case there’s a lot of restarts at the end. The fuel just wasn’t there. It was really unfortunate.”
Elliott ran out of fuel during Lap 55 of the race, with only 36 laps to go. This brought out the only caution flag for the race and Elliott was pushed back to the pits for a refuel. Ultimately, he ended up finishing in a dreadful 32nd place, one lap down.
Elliott is down to his final shot at Daytona this weekend
The final race ahead of the playoffs will take place this weekend at Daytona Internation Speedway. Unfortunately for Elliott and several others, this is their last chance to win a race.
In Elliott’s own words, “To show up there and be in a must-win situation is like going to Vegas and having to hit the nearest slot machine for the jackpot. That’s just silly.”
Seeing the 2020 Cup Series champion’s performance at Daytona over the years, it would not be a stretch to say that the HMS driver missing the playoffs for the first time in his Cup career looks very likely now.
