Chase Elliott laments Brickyard loss, as he didn’t have enough to match Michael McDowell’s perfect drive
Chase Eliott is cu currently 80 points off Bubba Wallace at P16 in the point table.
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Chase Elliott at IMS (Credits:@NASCAR/Twitter)
Hendrick Motorsport driver Chase Elliott’s playoffs hunt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended in another disappointment as his playoff bubble compatriot Michael McDowell earned his first win of the year while the 2020 Cup champion watched from P2. The No:9 driver finished the race three seconds behind his rival.
Chase Elliott now has a very low possibility of making the playoffs on points and has to win a race to earn his spot in the last 16. He found himself unfortunate after missing out on seven Cup events this season, six due to an injury and an additional race due to NASCAR suspension. He has the next Sunday’s Watkins Glen race to secure the playoffs.
Taking about the result after the race, the No:9 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver pointed out that he had a really good car, and his team put in a valiant effort the whole race. But it was enough to secure the win of his FRM Ford counterpart.
“Just needed to be a little better through the back half over there and get off of (Turn) 14 a little better just to have me in a better spot getting into (Turn) 1. Just really appreciate the effort, man. Our (car) was really good, really good,” Elliott said, as reported by Motorsports.com.
He added that the No:34 car drove without any mistakes the whole race. Elliott said, “Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win.”
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Pitstop played a major role in deciding the race results
Elliott, the most successful active road course racer in the Cup series, lost out to the Ford driver on the final green flag pit-stop cycle. Even a P2 wouldn’t have been possible for last year’s defending champion, as he could exit the pit before Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez. When pitting, the No:99 team on P2 had a slow pit stop due to an air-hose issue.
Despite Elliott having a good stop, it wasn’t enough for him to close the gap on the Ford driver. When they exited the pits on lap 50, McDowell could have a three seconds lead. He was able to hold on to the gap to take the lead back at the end of the green flag pit-stop cycle. Elliott acknowledged that they lost out ground during the pit stop.
“I lost too much ground under that pit cycle and was trying to pace myself for the long haul. It kind of had that green flag feel. I thought I did that, just needed to do a better job getting through (lapped) traffic there,” Elliott said.
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Justin P Joy
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