By: Cathy Brown
Twitter: @TheCathyBrown@PitOutsideBox
Facebook: Pitting Outside the Box
Website: Pitting Outside the Box
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Starting fifth in the Hollywood Casino 400, Chase Elliott was eight points below the cutline to make the final four and a shot at the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.
Elliott was able to work his way up to third, when the caution flag flew for Kyle Busch scraping the wall after a right front tire went down.
Coming in for tires and fuel, Elliott lost four spots on pit road and restarted the race sixth. The No. 9 went to work and was back up to third in just three laps.
Teammates Kyle Larson was leading, and William Byron was second, Elliott challenged both of them and took second and then captured the lead on lap 34.
Larson and Byron were close behind and Byron was able to take the lead right back, bringing Larson with him, this put Elliott back in third as he radioed his team, he had a “slight vibration.”
He was able to maintain that position and when Stage No. 1 was complete, he crossed the stripe third – earning eight valuable stage points.
Elliott was able to retake the lead again on lap 91 with Kevin Harvick’s help and 32 laps later he gave up the lead to come in for a green flag stop taking tires and fuel and getting back on track fifth.
As green flag stops continued, he worked his way up to second, 20 seconds behind race leader Joey Logano. Byron with a strong car sailed passed Elliott taking the position and trying to catch Logano.
Logano eventually came in to pit giving the lead to Byron and Elliott was no second. Larson inched closer and closer but ran out of time as Stage No. 2 came to an end – Elliott crossed the stripe second earning nine valuable stage points.
Coming in for the end-of-stage caution, the No. 9 was back on track fourth for the start of the final stage.
With 100 laps to go, Elliott had a problem coming off of turn two on the restart and gave up several positions, finally settling in seventh.
When green flag stops started, Elliott pitted from the sixth position for two right side tires and fuel, as the rest of the leaders pitted – Elliott now found himself in third.
Kurt Busch, Byron, Logano and Harvick after making their green flag stop all were able to pass Elliott, relegating him back to sixth.
The yellow was back in the air with 50 laps to go for Ryan Newman, this brought the Hendrick Motorsports NAPA No. 9 back to pit road.
With 45 to go, Elliott took the outside line and snatched the lead from Ku. Busch just as Ryan Blaney hit the wall hard brining out another caution.
The race was back green with 39 to go and it was a four-wide battle for the lead, Elliott not wanting anything to do with it fell back to sixth and waited for things to settle down up front before making another charge to the front.
Elliott was up to third with 20 laps to go and was able to pass Harvick with no incident. Now running second and 1 ½ seconds behind the race leader Larson, Elliott tried his best to catch him – even running against the wall and scraping the wall multiple times.
In the end, Elliott couldn’t catch his teammate who went on to win his ninth race of the season, the No. 9 would have to settle for second. Elliott is now 34 points about the cutline and second in the points.
As we head to Martinsville Speedway next weekend, he won there last fall – can he do it again? We’ll have to wait and see…..
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