NASCAR’s Big 3 way ahead
Red-hot Elliott still trails playoff leaders
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Chase Elliott has won two of the last three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, but none of that really matters now that he and seven other drivers are about to begin the next round in the season-ending playoffs.
With a win-and-advance format, Elliott won two weeks ago at Dover International Speedway, guaranteeing his advancement out of the Round of 12 and into the Round of 8, which starts Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Aric Almirola won at Talladega Superspeedway in the second of three races in the round, and Elliott won again Sunday at Kansas Speedway for his third career series win.
Although they are hardly complacent, the momentum Elliott and his team are running with doesn’t mean much going into Martinsville and then Texas Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway in Phoenix as he competes for one of four spots in the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Just because you ran good this week doesn’t mean next week is going to go good,” the No. 9 Chevrolet driver said Sunday.
Elliott was eliminated in the Round of 12 in his 2016 rookie season but survived to the Round of 8 the last two seasons.
“But momentum is nice; I’d rather have it than not have it,” he continued. “Still at a pretty big points deficit behind (Kyle Busch), (Kevin Harvick) and some of those other guys. If we just keep running with them every week, I think we’ll give ourselves a chance. That’s all you can ask for. We’re going to keep the hammer down and try to keep as much pressure on as we can and just see where it plays out.”
Even calling it a “pretty big” deficit is putting it mildly.
Busch and Harvick enter the final round before the championship race at the top of the playoff standings. Busch, who drives the No. 18 Toyota, is 40 points ahead of the new cutoff mark, and Harvick, in the No. 4 Ford, is 39 ahead. To compare, defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. is +23 points while Elliott is +3.
“The guys you have to beat in those situations are there every week,” Elliott said of the drivers he’s trailing, who have been dubbed the Big Three. “They don’t mess up. You better be in them and not mess up is kind of the goal. We’ll see where we end up.”
Well, they rarely make mistakes.
Winning Stage 2 and leading for 76 laps, Harvick looked like he was going to win Sunday, but a pit-road speeding penalty cost him the lead and allowed Elliott to take over. Elliott said he was disappointed he couldn’t race Harvick head-to-head for the win.
Currently outside of the top four in the playoff standings, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch are all three points below the cutoff and Almirola is 12 behind.
Harvick and Busch accumulated a massive advantage in points during the regular season, winning seven races apiece and earning five playoff points for each. They have combined for 21 total stage wins this season, which translate to an additional playoff point each.
However, Busch hasn’t won since the Round of 16 in September, and Harvick’s last trip to victory lane was in August at Michigan International Speedway.
Truex, who has four wins this season but hasn’t been to victory lane since July, is still 20 points ahead of Elliott.
Elliott, the 22-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver, will almost certainly have to win to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead in November.
“Those pressure-packed situations, the only time you can learn from them is to be in them more often,” Elliott said. “I think it’s as simple as that, just putting yourself in position more is going to keep the pressure on more. The more you’re comfortable with that, the better off you’re going to be for it.”