Only one driver was able to pass Brad Keselowski Sunday. And that driver was Chase Elliott.
Coming into the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, Elliott had run only 20 laps inside the top five all season. Sunday he not only took the lead from Keselowski but went on to lead 49 laps.
Elliott appeared to be well on the way the win at Martinsville in the fall 2017 race before being booted by Denny Hamlin; and Sunday he seemed to be setting up for some redemption. Keselowski however was just to strong and Elliott spent the final laps trying anything he could to get to Keselowski.
He came up one spot short losing by .594 of a second.
“I don’t know,” Elliott said. “It was really tough. Our NAPA Camaro was good. I felt like we were about as even with him as we could be.”
“When I did get the lead, I felt like there was a little advantage to being out front and being able to work traffic your way and play off it and whatnot.”
In the end Elliott admitted he may have waited too long to try one final run to catch Keselowski.
“I tried to move up there at the end and I don’t know if I could have got to him,” Elliott said. “Maybe if I moved up a little sooner, maybe. But, I tried to get to him there in (Turn) 3, but maybe next time.”
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.
