Chase Elliott had a chance. The Hendrick Motorsports driver needed nothing short of a win to advance to the Championship 4 in Miami Sunday. For a while Elliott looked as though he might pull it off, or least have a shot at it.
After starting sixth, Elliott ran as high as second finishing there in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. But shortly after the start of the third and final stage, and shortly after racing hard with Denny Hamlin for the second spot, Elliott’s Chevrolet appeared to lose a left rear tire; the car spun and impacted the wall hard between turns 1 and 2 on lap 167, ending his day, his race, and his hope for a championship run in 2019.
The crash ended a disastrous Round of 8 for Elliott. After coming into the round only six points behind the cutoff he had a broken axle leave him with a 36th place finish at Martinsville. The following week in Texas an early mistake caused him to spin and crash and all he could salvage was a 32nd place.
“It’s just a continuation of our first two weeks, unfortunately,” Elliott said of his early exit Sunday. “It was really tough in traffic to catch guys and then pass and whatnot. But I feel like we were in a good position to run solid. I’m not sure why we had a tire go down. I think that’s what happened, at least; it seemed like it”
“Hopefully Homestead goes better and we can get prepared good for next season and get a good notebook for next year,” Elliott said.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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