The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs have been a repeating story of disaster and recovery for driver Chase Elliott.
After crashing his No. 99 Chevrolet nose-first into the Turn 1 tire barrier at the Charlotte Road Course, Elliott recovered to win the first elimination race of the Playoffs.
But Elliott’s engine expired eight laps into the opening Round of 12 race at Dover. He finished dead last in a field of 38 and scored one point.
Two weeks later, facing elimination at Kansas Speedway, Elliott faced a 20-point deficit to Brad Keselowski entering the race. In an overtime restart, Elliott charged to second place as Keselowski faded. The net difference was just enough for Elliott to grab the final berth in the Round of 8.
The opening race in the Round 8 at Martinsville, however, brought more catastrophe. A broken axle relegated Elliott to a 36th-place finish, 55 laps down. Consequently, Elliott must pull another rabbit out of his hat in the next two races.
Currently 44 points below the cut line for the Championship 4, Elliott almost certainly must win either at Texas or ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
“For us, just trying to keep our season alive,” Elliott said of his approach to Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at TMS (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “You want to be able to go to Homestead and race for a championship. There’s only going to be four guys that have that opportunity, right?
“So, for us, we’re in a tough spot from a points standpoint that we’ve pretty much got to go win, either here or Phoenix or both or something spectacular happen for us to move on. So, that’s the cards we dealt ourselves after last week and we’ll see how it plays out.”
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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