Elliott wins playoff race at Charlotte in scorching heat

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Alex Bowman had just advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs, climbed from his car and slumped to the ground, dehydrated and overcome by the heat. As he was receiving medical attention, Bubba Wallace approached him and angrily splashed liquid in Bowman’s face.

That closing image capped a sloppy Sunday in scorching temperatures at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Chase Elliott won despite crashing head-on into a tire barrier earlier on The Roval. Elliott was leading on a restart headed into the first turn when he locked his brakes and his car drove directly off the course and crashed into the makeshift wall.

“I couldn’t believe I did that. That was just so stupid,” Elliott said. “I don’t know that you could have done anything more stupid leading this race than what I did right there. Luckily our car wasn’t too bad ... fast enough to drive up through there, got the cautions at the right time, and just didn’t quit.

“If there’s ever a lesson to quit, today was the example.”

Elliott celebrated by returning to the corner where he’d wrecked earlier and placing the nose against the barrier before smoking his tires.

“I was coming back and saw that dang thing and thought I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to redeem myself,” Elliott said of his celebra

not tion.

The winner, though, was not the spotlight in NASCAR’s first elimination race of the playoffs.

The focus was on the four drivers who would be trimmed from the 16-driver championship field, and Bowman spent the entire race fighting for a spot in the second round. He crashed his car in the final moments of Saturday practice and had to go to a backup, then spun in the opening laps Sunday, deliberately spun Wallace in anger, and had to claw his way to a second-place finish.

But the 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports was no guarantee that Bowman would advance. Ryan Newman, further back in the field, had the point advantage on Bowman and Bowman had no control of his own fate.

Then Newman, racing Aric Almirola over the final few laps for a shot at advancing, missed a chicane with two laps remaining and the error eliminated him from the playoffs.

“I felt like I made a lot of mistakes trying too hard,” said Newman, who also stalled his Ford during a pit stop. “We did not have the race car and that’s what I had to do.”

The point difference swung to Bowman, who couldn’t celebrate because he needed immediate medical attention. As Bowman was slumped next to his car and surrounded by medical personnel, Wallace approached him, the two had a brief verbal exchange and Bowman appeared to laugh at Wallace right before Wallace angrily splashed the bottle he was carrying in Bowman’s face.

Bowman was later treated in the infield care center for dehydration and said he spun Wallace for flipping his middle finger at him repeatedly on track.

“I got flipped off for every single straightaway for three laps, flipped off by him for like three or four laps in a row at Richmond, so I’m just over it. He probably wouldn’t have got wrecked if he had his finger back in the car, right?” Bowman said.