If not for a costly mistake on pit road by his crew, Chase Elliott could have been the Hendrick Motorsports driver celebrating in Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway instead of Kyle Larson. The day was shaping up well for Elliott, but one error snowballed into another, turning a promising run at the front into a P15 finish.
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Elliott started the race from P9 and maintained a strong pace. He finished both Stage 1 and Stage 2 in P2. A clean pit stop following Stage 2 allowed the #9 Chevrolet to take control of the restart. Elliott held off Larson and Brad Keselowski to lead the opening laps of the final segment.
But on lap 195, when Keselowski suffered a flat tire, it triggered a round of pit stops that unraveled Elliott’s race.
The #9 driver led the field onto the pit road and pulled into stall No. 41, located closest to the pit entry. Everything appeared to go according to plan until the crew committed a minor error, which led to some big changes.
Jackman TJ Semke dropped the car a fraction of a second too early. Elliott’s rear-tire changer, Chad Avrit, had not yet secured the right-rear wheel, forcing Semke to raise the car again so the lug nut could be tightened.
The mistake, the crew’s only miscue of the day, cost them dearly. The stop stretched to over 14 seconds — an eternity in a pit lane where eight-second stops are the norm. Elliott tumbled from the lead to rejoin in 16th place, and couldn’t regain the lost ground.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup champion clawed his way back to P12 late in the race, but ultimately fell to P15 as Todd Gilliland, Corey Heim, and Noah Gragson slid past in the closing laps.
“It was great for the #9 this weekend. They unloaded, [and] they were good. Chase had very favorable comments about the race car straight out of the gate,” said Chad Knaus, the Vice President of Competition for Hendrick Motorsports, trying his best not to focus too much on the downside.
“It’s unfortunate that the issue happened today because I think we’d be sitting here with them easily in the top-five with the pace that they had. But it only takes one hiccup, and it can kind of derail your day,” he elaborated.
“We’ve got to keep working on those things, but as long as they continue to bring good race cars and fast race cars and execute at a high level, they’re going to be where we need them,” concluded Knaus.
Although the 29-year-old Elliott has yet to visit Victory Lane this season, he currently sits fourth in the driver standings. He holds an average finish of 11.6 with three top-five results through the first 12 races.
